The Sea in I
by priscel
Summary: A street urchin's greatest fear in a place like Maheran was getting caught. They were disappearing off the streets and the Monarch was behind it all...or was he? Duo always knew he'd be caught one day, but never linked to a prophecy he cared little for.
1. Chapter I

Italics ~ thoughts

Warnings: Violence-some gore with that, suggestive content, MXM/yaoi, Duo torture, NCS (non-descriptive and mild descriptive much later in chapters), Mpreg, OCCness, beware hairballs... :) I dunno if I got it all, but I'll post it in the chapters if I forgot anything

Pairings: eventual 1x2, minor 3x4

Input/feedback much appreciated.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the sexies in Gundam Wing AC, I just love to help them live a little.

I

It was warm today, for that she was glad. The weather in their little niche of the world was always a bit chilly or too warm but not today. Her bonded had went out of his way and so had Odin to make a window for her in their recessed home of rock. The cool breeze blew in, shifting her hair into her eyes. The sun warmed her skin as she lay in bed and closed her eyes. She longed for her bonded to return. As warden of their clan, he had many responsibilities but he had been harried as of late and she knew she was no small part of it.

There was a loud thump and a curse that made her smile. Her eyes remained closed, her body hurt too much to even permit that small movement. Her ears twitched at the sound of movement as the soft sound of footsteps drifted to her ears followed by silence.

"Amadahy."

She heard him say her name and warmth suffused her. He said it the way he always did and she loved the sound of his voice. She would miss him even more.

"Amadahy?" worry colored his tone but she was sure she had responded the first time. Or had he been calling for longer than that?

The pain was gone and that allowed her to roll her head toward him. She opened her eyes to see him even though she didn't know they were slivers of brown eyes he could hardly see. Gray encroached on her vision but she pushed it back to see her bonded with his black hair streaked in silver and sharp gray eyes, watching her with a low blue, backlit glow. Her brow crinkled when she looked at him again.

"When…" she swallowed, suddenly breathless and her eyes closed for a moment before she willed them open again. She managed a slight smile, "You have white strands in your hair…"

He chuckled, pushing his hair back from his eyes and giving her a wan smile. "I think I look more distinguished."

Her smile grew even though it made it harder to breathe.

He knelt down beside her bed and looked away. His face was pinched when he next spoke, "I was refused audience at the tribal hall. They refused to send their strongest healer, saying they've done all they could. But they haven't! If I can find another wielder-"

"It's my time." she broke in.

"No! You are too young! We are still young! We aren't supposed to leave each other until we are bowled over by age!"

She tried for a laugh that came out stronger than she expected and it chased away some of the fear, anger and darkness from his eyes. He reached for her but aborted the movement, rubbing that hand frantically against something beyond the scope of her vision. Then it was there, running through the tresses at the top of her head as he leaned down closer to her.

"Yes… and children?" she thought she had said more but that was all she heard.

He smiled down at her his eyes held a glossy gleam, "Yes, lots of children. Girls with your straw colored hair and boys-"

"-with your wild heart, your temper." She smiled for him again and he chuckled with a nod.

"But _tempered_ by your patience, your strength-"

"Their names… I… I can't remember them. Tell them to me again?" she heard him gasp and saw his lips press into a quivering line and his hand stilled in her hair.

He started caressing her hair again, "I'll find another water wielder and a stronger healer. I'll find you-"

She shook her head, the motion nearly making her vision go black. She pushed it back and reached for him. He caught her hand and intertwined his fingers with the back of hers, bringing their hands to rest on the hair at the back of his head. "JJ, tell me their names love."

His voice was thick when he spoke again, "Shema, Tier, Adenia, J-Ja… Amadahy, open your eyes for me?"

She could feel the cold, she was accustom to feeling, slipping into her veins and her eyes open wider, revealing black eyes barely kept in check by a thin ring of hazel. "JJ, kiss me…"

She couldn't hear the strangled sound he made at the sight of her eyes. She couldn't hear anything else except the slowing thud of her heart. Amadahy felt her fingers go slack even though he squeezed them and pushed them back into his hair. She felt the press of his lips against her and the warmth of his breath before it was consumed by a dark blue haze and then nothingness.

He stayed, pressed mouth to mouth until his tears dripped onto her half open black eyes and spilled out the corners. He screamed out until it became a tortured incoherent howl and evening took away all the light from the room. He ignored Odin who called to him from the door of their dwelling, burying his nose in Amadahy's neck.

"Leave." He rasped out toward the teen whose hesitant steps into their home finally reached his ears. "Leave or I'll kill you." Jirrad peered over his shoulder to drive his threat home with a scowl but Odin wasn't there. He wondered if he'd been talking to himself when he'd said the last. He pressed his ear to Amadahy's chest and squeezed his eyes shut, straining to hear her heart or her breathing when his own was making it hard to hear much of anything. There was nothing.

Jirrad stood up, his fingers still interlaced with Amadahy's chilled ones, and brushed the hair back from the cool skin of her forehead. "I will bring you back and give them what they deserve for refusing us."

O-OoO-O

Thirty years later…

Blue as far as the eye could see. It was an unending mass of constant movement. It could change form, bringing life with it as well as death. The mass roiled onto itself creating a stream of bubbles that swirled and dispersed once it reached the surface. More bubbles rushed past him, some bumping each other while others joined to make larger ones to out race the others to the top.

He reached for one, cradling it in the curl of his fingertips with no real effort to hold his arm up. It sparkled like jewels he had seen on the ladies in the manors closest to the temple and in his most faded dreams that blurred between a happier time and one of loss. It tingled coolly against his skin. It wobbled and glinted with refracted light like it contained it within itself. He watched it slip away through the crack of his fingers and race up with all the rest. His arm stayed up as if by another will.

He leaned forward, pausing at the mute swoosh against his eardrums and a chilled press against his eyes. He realized from the chilled touch pressure was all around him. His stomach churned as he floated and he knew then that he was inside it. He looked up at the murky light too broad to be more than one source and pushed up.

He blinked. Nothing happened. He tried again, his heart a mad rhythm loud in his ears.

Nothing.

He couldn't move.

He couldn't breathe.

He struggled to draw breath though there was none. It buoyed him, pressing in on him from all sides, and left him feeling light through its pressure. He stopped struggling and just lay there, twitching at the chilly fingers brushing over his skin.

It was almost a second nature to him when he relaxed into it, his eyelids heavy. He was connected to it just as it dwelled in him.

"Ama..." he began to whisper.

"Amada-" it didn't fit.

"_Retwa_..." said the whisper.

Retwa was what it was called.

Retwa was all he knew. Then he knew more. Retwa was old and had many names. Older than he was, existing long before there was the limitless stretches of swirling dusts and sands blanketing his world from the great Disaster. In him, though, an answer to its longing niggled, but it had no words. Retwa questioned of it being and he had no answer. It shared with him its ache and its need. It urged something from him. From - them.

Alone.

And he understood it was lonely, but couldn't seek, searching and couldn't reach. It stripped, wore and marked everything but couldn't restore anything. It was one but two, missing the other part... calling him and the other. It wanted to be set free but it needed the wielder, the vessel. He felt the sorrow it felt for them.

Even though it scared him, the fear became less as he got older and the dreams got longer. He had never known its name before now but he had always found acceptance when he embraced Retwa like he did now. It comforted him, letting him know he was not alone. It would surround him, this undulating blue mass - Retwa- and then he knew nothing.

"For as long as I remember," came the quiet whisper. "I've always had this dream. For as long as there had been you, there'd been-" _me_. He felt his lips move, mumbling faintly in a voice that sounded far older than he was.

His eyes shot open and he gasped, his head falling back to crack painfully against hard tar-sand wall and jolt him out of his half-doze. He covered the throbbing spot at the back of his head with both his hands and rocked in place. He bit his lip at a corner. Teary eyed, he sneaked a peek outside through a hole in one of the loose pieces of flaxen terry cloth that hung over his hiding spot with several animal skins that the Tailor often left out to dry.

Seeing nothing, he reached out to move the Tailor's wares but stopped, catching a glimpse of fine, leather boot clad feet with three blue squiggly lines bracketed by the royal crest - a golden halo. To him it had always looked like thorny vines ensnaring the wielder's mark but she was still among them. She was life giving, second mother to every place she visited because it was rumored that every place her bare feet touched life sprung up in abundance.

She, and what was left of her people, remained with the cruel soldiers and their idiot Monarch instead of giving freely what was never meant to be owned or controlled. Somehow that had always left him feeling bitter with disappointment and the dreams, he felt, were something she needed to know about. He was certain.

Perhaps he was the only one that felt this way that things return to the way they were before all the sand. In stories of the past and sometimes in strange dreams, he saw how everything had been - lush with life and a few sandy places.

The mark of a soldier adorned all of the Monarch's men in the middle calf area at the back of the boot. Unfortunately for him, it seemed half the army decided to go to market that day and on top of that, some of them were wondering around in his alley. His hand snapped back to his body when a soldier's boots walked quickly toward his spot.

_They didn't see me_, he thought to himself even as he scooted back in the narrow space and attempted to melt into the wall. He sat there stiffly on the small wedge in the scooped out shop wall that he often used as a seat. Though that hadn't given him much reassurance seeing as how he only had to lean forward a little more than usual to look through the hole-ridden cloth. He knew what they were doing. The Monarch's men were doing their rounds again, _recruiting _street orphans or any urchin that was able of body to join their ranks. The number of men out this time around was surprising. But maybe, just maybe, this time around some of the Tailor's fine cloths and furs were of the soldiers' intent.

He held his breath regardless of his attempts at reassuring himself. He wasn't fooled by the lure of a working wage and a roof over his head in the barracks. It was the Monarch's answer to _helping_ the poor, and even then, he would only be able to reap the benefits if he survived the tour. He shivered more from the chill that clung to his skin than from what was rumored to happen to people who took the tour.

He pulled his rough legging covered knees closer to his thin chest, his threadbare shirt doing nothing to snuff it out. Sometimes he welcomed the chill that stole over his body from the dream, especially on melt days when the Maheran sun seemed relentless in its intensity. He never quite understood it but he had dreamt of Retwa more frequently in the past month than he had a year ago. He shook himself all over and peered through the hole in the cloth again.

They were gone.

He slipped down from his perch, pulling a musty cloak from the pile of castoffs the Tailor and his family often left out before throwing them away. He pulled it on quickly, stuffing his thick braid into his hood before stepping away from the safety of the hidden niche behind the Tailor's wares. He changed his gait to a sluggish amble on his way out of the alley, leaning heavily on the wall.

He pushed his feet deep into the warm sand, wishing he could just cover himself in it. Anything to shake the chill from his skin, it was more distracting then anything else. He looped around the back to the side entrance of the Tailor's shop that the poorer townsfolk often used to not cause the man any trouble no matter how Gault insisted they come through the front. He owed the man his thanks and he wouldn't leave without him having it even if he knew that habits such as his were going to get him caught one day. He hobbled to door, glancing at the open market as people continued with their daily routine barely taking notice of a street rat the soldiers were currently dragging by the back of her shirt.

He slipped into the shop and up to the silent counter. "Mista Gault?" he glanced around the shop and saw the shelves and tables full of goods. Nothing was out of sorts, just none of the usual laughter and filling warmth the Tailor, his wife and two youngest children often gave to anyone who entered their store. Those children had long since grown and it felt empty. It felt wrong. The chill still nipped at his skin and he rubbed his arms, swallowing down the sudden longing he felt.

"Mista Gault?" he tried again, rubbing at his arms and rose up on his tiptoes to see a pair of stitched, hide-soled shoes half wrapped in paper with his name on it. The oddness of the quiet shop was over ridden by his joy at having shoes. He smiled hugely and grabbed them, quickly slipping them on and stood again. He smiled down at them and wiggled his toes in his comfortable new shoes. His head shot up when he heard noise behind the counter. His wide eyes met the tailor's wife and he smiled beatifically.

"Thank you Mum. I... Th-they..." He half stuttered, embarrassed and watching her gesture to him in an odd manner. He looked on in confusion and then dread filled him... perhaps calling her Mum had been a mistake, he really hadn't meant anything by it. _She must think I'm pitiful... needy. _ He tried again, forcing the words passed the tightness in his throat, "M-Misses Gault, I just wanted to say thank you to you and Mista Gault. Cuz-" Duo squeezed his eyes shut and began again, "_Be_cause-"

The bells of the shop's front door jangled, followed by the heavy thud of booted feet. Duo stiffened, hunching down into his clothes, his mouth snapping shut. He nodded jerkily to the Tailor's wife, saw the regret in her eyes, and knew it was too late. The sudden hand on his shoulder caused him to act; he slipped down out of the soldier's hold before he could grip him. Duo rolled on the floor and swung his feet, kicking one man at the back of his knees, and nailing the other one in the kneecap. He scrambled up to his feet as they fell and cursed, sticking out his tongue at them as he ran for the back door.

Duo's brows furrowed as the men made no attempt to get up and the tailor's wife aborted attempt to reach him caught his attention. He saw her stand awkwardly at the side of the front counter where the swing door stood open against her leg, staring after him with the same sad look on her face as she stumbled down one of the two steps to the counter's platform. He stopped his back straightening as a hand settled on his head.

"Please," the tailor's wife spoke softly coming from behind the counter completely and Duo blinked owlishly at his bound hands, mystified at how they got that way and looked back at the dark haired man. The man was a head taller than him with hard eyes that grabbed at him, made him feel like the ground had disappeared and he was again in the place of his dreams and drowning.

"Please, he's just a boy." Duo glanced away from the man to the woman with tears in her eyes and down at his hands. He jerked at his bound hands as if finally realizing that they were indeed bound and felt his eyes water when he blinked, relieving an ache in them from staring too long. He jerked away from the man; he didn't want to go with them. The man looked on, impassive. Duo tugged at the tether his captor held in a tight fist, unconsciously leaning his body in her direction.

"Angie." Duo looked up in time to see the stern shake from Mr. Gault's weathered gray hair as he stepped from behind his captor and went to his wife's side.

"Gault, he's but a child. We could take him. _Tien_, we've been _wanting_ to take him in." she pleaded, her fading red hair escaping in wisps from the bun at the back of head. Duo frown as Gault grabbed her hands and held them, turning her to his chest and bodily away from him. Duo's heart sunk when she bowed her head to Gault. His mouth was dry and the chill was a distant memory as he watched Gault rub her back.

Angie looked back at him, their eyes locking before she turned her teary gaze on the man holding him. "Heero. I understand Her order and your position as Principal but you could release him into our care-"

"Angie-"

"No." Duo glared up at the dark eyed man who held him and the man ignored him.

"Heero," Gault stared at them, kissed Angie's brow then cleared his throat at the look he got from his wife. "Heero, I don't object to taking the boy off your hands."

Duo relaxed trying to go to them but Heero pulled him back. "No, he assaulted two of the Monarch's men. There aren't many options for him because of that." He heard his captor's voice soften. He caught the glance Heero sent his way and sneered back. "He's either recruited by me or they turn him over to be imprisoned."

"He's just a boy!" Angie tried again, trapped in her husband's firm grip.

"Don't do me any favors." Duo snarled, using Heero's arm to lift himself up and pull Heero into his knee but something went wrong. Heero shifted his hands, yanking them over his head and left Duo frowning at him, stunned before he was thrown across his shoulder.

"Duo!" Duo felt the blood rushing to his head and tried to kick out but again Heero was a step ahead of him and had an iron-like hold over the back of his calves.

"No! Gault! Put me down! Let me go! Angie! Mum!"

Duo heard a scuffle and strained his neck to look up at the resounding slap, pissed that Gault would go so far. Heero turned and headed back out the door, causing Duo to slip back down his back. Duo cursed, stopping himself from bouncing by pressing down into the curve of Heero's lower back eliciting a grunt from his captor to see Angie's tear streaked face, a red mark blooming on Gault's cheek and him crushing his wife against his chest. His tense body relaxed at the sight of them, his mind burning the image of them into his memory when he couldn't see them anymore.

Duo pummeled Heero's back with his hands until Heero smacked him hard across his rear. Duo flushed at the yelp he let loose when Heero swatted him harder at his silence the first time around. He pressed his lips hard together and fought back the warmth building in his eyes. Mournfully, he watched Gault's home and shop get further away as Heero strode onto the main road of the market. His strides were even and light like he was no burden for him to carry and more like a sack of grain.

Duo gritted his teeth, remembering the girl he had seen earlier, his face heated further knowing that people were watching him, just like he had her, as he was carried toward the temple practically on display. He eyed his braid thumping against his captor's backside and glanced to his sides. The other soldiers were ahead of them. He couldn't tell how far but he could run and he was small enough to make it work. He had to. He arched up and winced, his stomach muscles were sore and abraded from his captor's shoulder guard but he made them tighten as he lifted himself up enough to swing his braid like a whip.

He gasped when it wrapped around Heero's neck pulling his head at an odd angle but it had an immediate effect- Heero's grip on his legs lessen. Acting quickly before the other soldiers took notice and pleased that Heero's choked noises of distress were drowned out by the heyday of the market place, Duo pushed downward, kneeing Heero in the stomach when Heero groped his rear in an attempt to regain his hold on him. Duo grabbed his braid the moment his feet touched the ground and gritted his teeth for the pain that was sure to follow as he twisted and kicked at the back of Heero's knees. Heero went down like a brick and Duo tried to yank his braid free but Heero held on, taking him with him.

tbc...

Thanks to Sharon and Efrite. Without their help, I think this would make a lot less sense then it already does *snickers*


	2. Chapter II

_Italics_ ~ thoughts

Warnings: Duo torture, MXM goodiness, suggestive content

Pairings: eventual 1x2, minor 3x4

Input/feedback much appreciated.

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the sexies in Gundam Wing AC, I just love to help them live a little.

* * *

II

On his knees in the road, Duo felt sweat on the back of his neck as hushed tones began replacing the thrum of the market. He glared at Heero's heaving form crouching on the road, nearly on all fours and caught the glint of one squinting, teary cerulean blue eye. He snorted digging his heels into the dirt road, leaning into the pull as he yanked at his braid.

Duo gasped when his back hit the foot worn road and gapped at the smug looking Heero a few feet away. He kicked dirt toward Heero as he scrabbled backwards then up into a low crouch and semi crawl as he weaved between the legs of people who had been watching them, and startling a few who weren't. He chanced a glance at the surrounding vendors before ducking underneath a pottery stand's table. He winced in apology at vendor's curse and the subsequent shattering sound of one his pots.

Duo crawled through the paths of memory that led him under tables and through the narrow spaces behind carts and stands. Paths that he and others like him had secreted through, leaving angry vendors and soldiers befuddled by their agility but he had to be in the here and now. There weren't many street rats anymore and right then there was only him. He slid around the corner catching the ghost of a memory, a child with shoulder length hair the rich brown color of the earth and a bright smile. He stumbled at the sight of the child and the ache in his chest. He slowed and glanced back, balling up the remaining tether to his bindings and felt unbalanced by the echo of laughter in the absence of memory's image.

He turned the last corner he knew would lead him to safety and all the air rushed out of him as he crumpled to ground. He felt moisture bead in the corners of his eyes as he cracked them open to see a boot coming at him. He tried to roll out of the way but it caught him in the side and pain screamed along ribs and his muscles when he was knocked into the dirt wall. Duo curled up into a tight ball, gulping as much air as he could before he was hit again.

"Ethan, cease!"

Duo uncurled a little at the breathless command that sounded some ways away. He peeked around his bound hands, and saw the booted foot drop back to the dirt. Dust misting up around his heel as Ethan dug it into the sand, scuffing up more dust into the dry air.

Duo wheezed, spit dripping out of his mouth and then his whole body jerked. Stunned, Duo ended up breathing in more dust and coughing before he peered up through his bangs to see Ethan's foot coming back down to stump on his side. He turned over, trying to get to his feet in a half -crawling scramble but he felt the boot come down on his back long before he was a few hands from the ground. He felt all the air leave his lungs in a whoosh.

Duo groaned at Ethan's foot pushing him down into the dirt, the heel digging into his back. The pressure from his back was gone for a second before Ethan's foot came back down on his back, again and again, stomping on him mercilessly. Duo bit his lips trying to stop his agitated and pained whimpers until he stopped. One squinting blue-violet eye saw Ethan stepping away with a cocky smile on his face.

Panting, Duo breathed in as much as he could and spat at Ethan. Ethan's smile was gone and Duo winced, but smirked through it, drawing himself up to his knees with an arm half bracing his side.

"You mangy animal!" Ethan hissed, drawing back and reaching for his sword.

"Ethan!" Heero caught Ethan by his elbow and glared at him.

"Sir?" Duo smirked fully, even though it hurt to do so, at how rigidly straight the black haired man had gotten when Heero stepped slightly between them. "He was coming out of this breeze way, Sir, like you said he would and he resisted."

Heero quirked a brow slightly, looking to Duo as if he expected him to say otherwise. Duo glared at them both, red welling up and mixing with the dirty grit from the path in the corner of his mouth.

Heero looked away, his lips pressed in a firm line while his face remained expressionless. He released Ethan, his hand dropping, fisted to his side and began walking back to the mouth of the alley. "Get him up and let's head back."

Duo jumped up when Ethan grabbed for him with a wide grin and darted away from him.

"Oh, no you don't." Ethan grabbed his braid, yanking him around and kicked Duo's feet out from under him.

Duo went down belly first with a pained grimaced from his aching neck, his arms and hands burning as they skidded against the stone and sandy path. The dust wafted around them and Ethan leaned in close, keeping Duo's braid taut and making Duo arch backwards to try to ease the pressure and strain in his neck and on his arms.

"All this hair just makes it easier to snap your neck. No one's going to help you now."

"Ethan, why are you doing this?" Duo gritted out between his clenched teeth and Ethan yanked on his hair. "What's happened to you? Can't you just-"

"Let you go?" Ethan laughed and slapped Duo across the back of his head. Duo winced, easing onto his knees, trying for balance with his fingers barely touching the ground. "Not going to happen. Trash like you shouldn't be left to prey on the good townsfolk. The One doesn't condone it and neither does the Principal."

"Then it is true what they s-say..."

Ethan shook Duo's head with his braid, making Duo bite his tongue, "For you... You ingrate, the Principal permitted you to get away with harming him when -"

"Ethan."

Ethan stiffened, rising to his feet in one smooth motion and yanking Duo right along with him.

"No more of that. We must return." Duo peered over Ethan's shoulder at Heero who stood alone in the cool shadows of the market canopy.

"Yes Princ- Captain." Ethan quickly corrected himself at Heero's scowl.

"Give him here." Ethan bowed to cover the face he made, jerking Duo forward with his braid so he stumbled.

They moved forward. Duo's mind working frantically to find away to get away again as the mouth of the alley grew closer. "Ethan, don't let them do this to me. We used to-to-" Duo choked, Ethan slapped Duo across the back where he had punched him in between his shoulder blades a few moments before.

Ethan leaned in close to his ear and hissed, "You don't _know_ me. I was never dirt like you."

Duo sneered over his shoulder at Ethan and end up walking into Heero. He glared up at the taller man who reached for the tether to his bound hands. Duo gripped the tether balled up in his hands and jerked them away from Heero. "Don't touch me you brainwashing monster!"

Ethan was suddenly in his face, his own contorted in anger. "Silence you trash!" Duo eyes went wide when Ethan backhanded him across the cheek. Duo swayed from the shock of it but stayed on his feet.

Ethan began to advance on him again, the other three soldiers in Heero's company now standing in the canopied opening of the alley where Heero had stood and remained there, watching them. Duo forced himself to stay still. If he was going to die then he'd prefer to die here in the alley, in the dirt where he was himself. At least he would die knowing he was free and not some shell of himself.

He felt his knees shake and his stomach mewl at the blood he had swallowed. He half grinned, he hadn't eaten for a few days now, and it struck him funny that in a sense he was eating...

He grimaced, swallowing more blood from his twice nicked cheek and half gagging as he spit it out.

Duo offered Ethan a dopey grin steeped in bitterness, knowing Ethan wouldn't even remember what it was like to be hungry. The grin slipped from Duo's face as Heero came closer. Heero's eyes smoldered with intent and a hidden something Duo didn't understand.

"You will behave," Heero commanded under his breath, the icy tone brooked no argument and Duo gripped the tether tighter. Heero started walking again and Duo found himself following, watching his captor hold the end of his braid with a confused look on his face as they left the alley.

Duo was brought out of his daze when one of the soldiers pulled his hood over his head to shield him from bright noonday sun or to hide his abuse at their hands as he passed them. They continued on, flanked by Heero's men with the walls of the palace-temple rising higher with their every forward step.

O-OoO-O

At the opening of the two large wooden doors that made up the entryway to the palace-temple and the temple commons within the high walled enclosure, were two older men eyeing goods in a cart one of the squires were rolling in.

"Principal, we welcome you back." Both older men looked up from their inspection of the cart's goods to see the young dark haired Captain just inside the door.

"Oh and how he's grown." The bald headed man with the bulbous nose mused as he stroked his graying goatee.

"Yes," the other man with shoulder length white hair chuckled, "the little half-ling he was. I don't remember ever seeing him unattached to someone of his family - clinging to his brother, trailing behind his sister's skirts or crying."

Another guff of laughter came from the bald man, earning a raised brow from the other, "Ha! Always crying that one! He has come far." The bald man remarked, sobering with a thoughtful expression on his face.

Jirrad nodded slightly at the approval in his companion's voice. "Yes, a useful appropriation." Jirrad looked at his hand with a slight curl to one side of his mouth then to his companion. "It has been awhile since you last visited, hasn't it. Death and great losses often make you toughen up. Although, I seem to recall he did still cry when I scolded him, though silently." Jirrad brushed his cloak back from his shoulders to show the deep blue color of his clothes and the emblem of a royal halo with squiggly lines inside it on the left side of his chest. They were not only a sign of his rank as the One's officiate but also of his position as the head of the Monarch's military.

"Ha!" The surly man snorted, rubbing his bald headed with a hint of a smirk. His eyes cut to white haired man, "I don't see how any child wouldn't."

Jirrad glared at his cohort, even though the man had left the verbal 'you' out of his statement, it was perfectly understood. He hid his distaste at the man behind a thin-lipped smile and turn toward his approaching charge.

"Heero!" he waved over to his protégé, his pale brows arching when the young man gave him a nod before yanking a rope ...of hair. The hooded body that followed stumbled forward but didn't fall and he mentally commended the girl for withstanding anything like that from Heero. Though he was sure, she was in some fair amount of pain. He met him halfway and clapped the boy on the shoulder.

"Heero," he inclined his head though the touch was more than he usually allowed. Heero returned the nod with a curious look in his eyes. Yes, the boy was quite aware of his likes and dislikes but he understood that people weren't always predictable though Heero himself was. "Is this our newest recruit? Perhaps she'll be worthy enough to be among the ladies that serve the One?"

"Her hair is long enough! Perhaps we'll have it measured, before its cut, to compare it with the One's and see if her hair rivals hers?" Jirrad nodded, though he felt his cohort Senjit could've kept his commentary to himself. He eyed the mangy looking rope of hair trailing from the lowered hooded head and frowned.

He strode over and reached inside the hood, jerking the hiding girl's face forward from beneath the shoddy cloth. His brow furrowed at the caked on grim he felt beneath his fingers, his other hand already seeking out his kerchief to wipe the filth away as he shook the child by her jaw. Jirrad's thin-lipped frown began to curve at the corners seeing her wan face remain still, eyes simply closed as if he were of no importance. Jirrad gave a toothy smile down at the girl; this was the kind of resistance he had dealt with under more controlled conditions and preferably in a private location.

He felt the heavy weight of Heero's ever-observant eyes, along with those of his four subordinates, and ignored it. He squeezed her cheeks until they dimpled and her lips puckered out as she struggled to hide her grimace of pain. Jirrad sneered down into oddly hued eyes that opened to glare up at him from beneath long dusty lashes and through the fall of bangs, the color of sun burnt twine the townswomen used to weave wicker baskets.

"When a person of my status, or anyone serving the interests of her Grace, wishes to see you, _you_ will respect that and do as they ask."

Jirrad felt satisfied at the fear that entered the imp's eyes then winced when teeth were suddenly embedded themselves in the space between his thumb and index finger. He saw Heero move first out the corner of his eye and raised his other hand to stop him and the other soldiers who had just begun to move.

"Just like the animals we saw you urchins becoming." Jirrad said without pause even as some of his soldiers flinched at the blood that dribbled down the imp's chin. "Be grateful you are one to be saved." The imp pulled at his hand and Jirrad shifted his grip, pushing his hand into the girl's clamped teeth. He smirked at the child's searching look and the reflexive swallow that made his eyes linger on the child's throat.

"Oh I know the perfect place for you," he whispered to the imp leaning down closer to the child's widening eyes, as Jirrad's other hand came up behind his head to hold him in place. He smiled at the boy when he struggled all the more, pulling at Jirrad's hand with his still bound ones. Jirrad forced the boy's head back into his grip and lifted him, shaking him until tears beaded in the corners of his eyes and scoffed at the heat simmering in the young boy's gaze, _Still defiant are we_?

At the feel of the boy's tongue jabbing insistently against the damaged webbing between his fingers, Jirrad eased his grip on the boy's face. Jirrad set the boy back on his feet as he removed his left hand from the boy's mouth and left the other firmly holding the back of his head to stop him from stooping over or wiping off anymore of his blood.

_Marked_, he laughed inside at the thought while his lips remained in a thin, slightly curved line. He guided the imp over to Heero who stepped forward, although cautiously, noticing how the boy's gaunt and now colorless face made his mentor's blood standout over the dirt and filth that covered it. Heero took a thin arm in his gloved hand without comment.

Jirrad's smirk coalesced into a thin line, he knew Heero had something to say.

"Take care of your new charge, Heero. He's to undergo the tour and be your subordinate." Jirrad half wondered if the twitch of muscle on the side of Heero's jaw would be the full extent of his protest. After all the years of training, the boy still voiced his dislike of tour in subtle, non-vocal ways. He had the feeling the urchin's quiet resolve was only a glimpse of the willful child he had broken many times before.

Jirrad's thick brow twitched when the urchin stiffly followed Heero, a little too quickly for his tastes.

"And..." Jirrad drew out the word, making Heero pause in his forward motion. The boy saw him stop and glanced at Jirrad wearily before trying to keep moving. Jirrad smiled and Heero jerked the boy back to his side, he had made the impression he wanted. "Leave the hair, have him presented to me once he's clean and fed so, Senjit here can get his measurements."

The bald headed Senjit came to Jirrad then, clapping him across his shoulder before he walked off toward the palace-temple with a smile and quizzical look at the boy.

Jirrad glanced at Heero meaningfully and Heero nodded his answer. He grinned as his protégé's right hand fisted to tap twice over his left breast in salute of his service to the One, the kingdom and lastly opening that fist at his breast, his head tilted in display of his loyal deference to his superiors and few equals.

Jirrad allowed his lips to twist into a small smile as Heero's company mimicked the gesture in the exact same manner before pushing the boy and leading his men up the main path to the palace-temple's doors. In Heero's hands, he wanted to see how long the boy would last before he crumbled. Jirrad wrapped his kerchief over the sluggishly bleeding teeth marks. He caressed the covered wound, running his fingers down to an inch below his wrist where the tone of the skin was a shade off.

He flexed his fingers before fisting his wounded hand until the kerchief darken over the wound then bleed through the surface. Satisfied, he dropped his hand to his side and headed for the palace-temple at a leisurely pace as he considered paying a visit to the One. Her kind heart had made it possible for him to have a hand again and freed him from his goggles so he could see unaided. She would, no doubt, fret over the wound dealt to him by one of the savages they were trying so desperately to save.

tbc...

AN: *waves* thanks for reading! Apologies if it's a little confusing but it should clear up in later chapters ^_^' So excuse the mess, this isn't actually finished yet and with the help of some really kind folk I'm trying to make it reader friendly *snickers*


	3. Chapter III

_Italics_ ~ thoughts

Warnings: Angst, Yaoi goodiness, suggestive content

Pairings: eventual 1x2, minor 3x4

Input/feedback much appreciated.

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the sexies in Gundam Wing AC, I just love to help them live a little.

* * *

III

At the back of Maheran's palace-temple, two figures sidled behind an immaculate ivory column on the open colonnade.

"We shouldn't-" she stopped at the shake of his head. The masked man was dressed in a light blue robe and was two heads taller than her. She frowned, opening her mouth to speak again but he shook his head firmly and put a finger to his immobile lips, cutting her off again. He held her hands and looked down into her clear cornflower blue eyes with his pleading, shadowed ones.

"T-Ten years they have stolen from us! They wiped out generations of our people on this very land, in our homes that took years to sustain and to build." His muffled tone wavered from the insistent syllabic hiss to his natural voice, though it sounded gravely.

"Ten years without knowing what they were _doing_ to you..." she watched his hand shake as he hesitated to touch her face. Then as if he overcame his internal struggle, he laid that shaking hand on her cheek before pulling it back to his side, "but no more."

The tall masked man spoke in the quietest whisper that strained with emotion to be heard and drew her closer to him. She waited, concerned and expecting him to tell her something of where he'd been kept all these years, but the masked man said nothing more. They both knew that idling behind a column, no matter the size and looking secretive, was putting them at risk.

The masked man lowered his head and pulled the hood of his tunic further down on his head as he motioned for her to stay watchful. He pushed off from the column and disappeared. She peeked around the column and found the masked man blended perfectly into the morning mill of people beginning their daily rituals around the palace-temple grounds. She had wanted the chance to speak to him one more time before they attempted to leave, but he was set on them leaving.

She wore a squire's green-gray hooded smock and was shorter than most of the people who moved about the foyer. She tried, one more time, to find the masked man in the crowd but she couldn't distinguish him from the few tutelaries amongst the eunuchs who also wore masks. She glanced around, gradually walking out into the crowd of brown smock covered servants, eunuchs, green-gray hooded squires and a few patrolling soldiers.

She eyed the columns wearily, pulling her mail like fitted hood of her smock a little further over her eyes to cover the escaping strands of her honey blonde bangs. She followed the eunuchs out into the walled off garden and stifled her scream when she miss-stepped and caught herself on a soft mound attached to a thin, pale skinned shoulder. She heaved a sigh in relief but her breath caught in her throat when she looked up into the blushing face and stunned wide brown eyes of one of the palace temple acolytes.

"You! Ahh!" the girl screamed at her and she jumped back. The girl's hand arced through the air and stunned everyone into silence with the resounding slap that followed.

"I-I..." she mumbled, her hand flying to her left cheek already reddening in the impression of a palm. Her other hand made an aborted trip to her throat, remembering at the last moment to disguise her voice. She bit her lip and spoke, "My sincerest apologies my lady. I meant no disrespect." she half spat the last word and nearly fell from the sudden weight slapping her heavily across her back.

"I believe the young squire is as flustered at this whole occurrence as you are my lady and priestess Sophil." the tall man, who moved as if he owned the ground beneath his feet, stood confidently beside her.

She readjusted her hood and felt the heat in her face as she stared openly at the young woman close in age to herself with dark brown, angularly clipped hair and ample breasts. Her hand strayed from its balled up position at her back to brush at the itching binding beneath her clothes that wrapped around her breasts so she could have the _flat_ look she was currently sporting. The cloth suddenly felt too tight. The initial shock of touching another woman's breast had already left her and she wondered if her breasts pronounced her figure in much the same way when she dressed.

She looked up at the acolyte, not recognizing her at first. She wore what all the acolytes wore, a blue-white high collar gown with no left sleeve bearing the black tattoo of three squiggly lines on the inside of their left shoulders. It was a facsimile of hers, a tattoo given to her at birth, the length, and size of her thumb to the first knuckle that rested over her heart, at the swell of her left breast. Sophil's hair fell into a v shape at the backs of her shoulders, as was the common style of all her acolytes, except for the beads that twain down several fingers of her hair at the V's end. As high priestess, her hair had never been cut since she was inducted to the fold at age eight. That had been true until this little stint occurred. Now she had horrid, unmanageable bangs. She watched Sophil shift her shoulders and saw how that small motion flowed fluidly across her breasts. It made her want to touch them, squeeze them to be sure they were real and she was surprised that the thought of doing that didn't bother her in the least.

Even still, after her acolytes had seen her without her ceremonial garb and powders or bare in the falls, she wondered why neither of them recognized her in a soldier's garb.

"Sophil, the Captain is right." The girl who spoke beside Sophil, she knew well and was the closest thing she had to a friend among her acolytes. Hilde had never been afraid to question her, talk with her openly or stay at her side when she had fits. If she could, she would take her with her. But what bother her most was that Hilde didn't _see_ her. "The boy has apologized, that is enough. We must attend to the One."

She swallowed, that meant they were running out of time. She remembered Sophil's duties now, she was one of her personal-attending ladies, and she met her brown eyes again. She flushed when her eyes strayed and her eyes widened slightly when they jumped back to Sophil's face. Sophil had one fine brown brow cocked as she stared back at her before those intense brown eyes started tracing her body in her uniform. She swallowed, her eyes widened and sweat trickled down her back from the sudden heat in the girl's eyes that seemed to be trapped at her backside by her hair and smock. She guessed it was only fair that she be made to feel uncomfortable because she had been caught ogling Sophil's breasts, by the girl herself nonetheless.

A particularly hairy looking soldier in the Captain's company cleared his throat to stifle a laugh when he tried to speak, "You can't blame the lad if he split wood at that one! No man wouldn't want to be the babe at those teats!"

Gruff laughter followed and Sophil restrained an irate Hilde, the sight of which had her snickering quietly to herself. Sophil managed to keep a hold on Hilde as she bowed to the Captain, his company and glanced back at her through lowered lashes. At first, she didn't notice it as the men in the Captain's company had taken to clapping her on her shoulders and back, making it hard for her to stand upright. The only plus side was that her jerky movements hid her flinching at the rough and unsolicited touch. It was when they stopped that she noticed Sophil staring at her and the sly smile that curved her plump lips before it disappeared.

She couldn't help the slight tilt to her head and flummoxed expression at the odd look directed toward her. More laughter erupted around her from the soldiers, except for the Captain who had been watching their exchange with a bemused smirk. She looked to the Captain and realized who had been standing beside her all along, Captain Khushrenada. In another lifetime, he had been known as Treize, friend and recently revealed to her as traitor to her people. He smiled at her indulgently and her lip puckered slightly as she turned to bow to her acolytes and stopped midway. Her fading blush returned full force at the suggestive sway of her acolyte's hips as Sophil left shoulder to shoulder with Hilde and another acolyte she hadn't noticed was there.

"Ah, that be a sassy gal lad." she glanced at the hairy man who was a head shorter than Khushrenada and knew his name was L'ome. She frowned at the way L'ome eyes lingered after her acolytes' backsides. "Mayhaps, too much of a woman for you."

She bit her lip when the friendly elbow to her side sparked a flare of pain there.

"But she's a priestess," she stressed the last, "is it not an insult to the One to-" she squawked at the heavy hand that ruffled her hooded head and freed her troublesome bangs.

"Ha ha, young he be!" L'ome offered fondly, "it'd do you good to ask that one for lessons."

"Now, now, abject _follower_ you are not." her mouth snapped closed, thankful that Treize interrupted and she dropped her hand from the pummel of her sword. "We all know you wouldn't want to be a eunuch like your tutelary. You're young and impressed with your tutelary's skills, as you should be." The ginger haired man said with a dismissive air. "It surprises me that the priests aren't permitted to fight with us but that is a political matter for another day and you came here to be a soldier." Captain Khushrenada spoke sounding more than a little lost in thought but a look at his face said otherwise. He was watching her still.

She blushed and ducked her head.

"Besides lad, there's no harm in dreaming and who says that little lady's going to be a stalwart priestess all her life." Titters of laughter agreed with the whimsical smirking man who sounded older than he looked, and with that she knew his name was Easely.

"Who's to say she hasn't made a few eunuchs turn from the cloth, if not have the eunuchs wishing they could have back what was snipped." L'ome sniggered.

"That one there's going to be hard to catch." Michal murmured wistfully, his focus returning to her, "If I were you boy, I'd carry the memory of what those teats felt like to my grave." She glared at the man's vulgarity, and at the last two men - Danis and Tristan -who she knew as well.

Michal was one of her suitors. If this was how he treated his subordinates, goading them into trysts with her priestesses and then mercilessly teasing her about her chances when he was only a few years older than she was, then perhaps she had been too hasty in putting him in the same category as her Principal.

_If I were a boy, I know exactly how I'd look if my brother's any indication_, she was half tempted to voice her thoughts when a throaty chuckle and a firm hand on her shoulder persuaded her against such rash actions. Try as she might, she couldn't hide her wince and looked up to the ginger haired man with eyebrows that looked as though someone took a knife to the ends, just before they reached his temples, and split them. She had always thought that, since the first time her brother had introduced his dear friend turned soldier, Treize.

Her every sense was to trust him but he - they could _not_ be trusted. She knew her people could never go back to the way it used to be before Nartob's occupation just like none of the lives lost could ever come back. Before today, she hadn't known the full story of what had happen to her people, only the wide spread rumors and what the high eunuchs taught her - that her people had been sacrificed in hopes of fulfilling an impractical prophecy and returning water to the land. Eunuchs had told her that their order – the Order of the One - had discovered that killing her people had been the reason for turning their world into nearly, unending deserts. By the time the Eunuchs reached the Monarch and the Monarch sent out help, many of her people were dead.

For her, many of her acolytes and some of the people in the Monarch's military that she sensed knew the welcoming arms of the Order were their only source of protection. She was grateful to them, but none of it added up, especially the vagueness over how her people were driven from their homelands and from Maheran. She only knew being with the Order and staying in her city village turned sprawling kingdom, felt right. She had known peace from the terror and horror of her earliest memories. She gladly took comfort in sensing people like her here where everywhere else it felt like an open wound or a sucking hole in her that demanded to be filled but she didn't know with what.

She had seen glimpses of the world and could understand- even without knowing the full truth- why the Order had saved them. They understood that if they could control and protect the wielders, they could control water. And that among her people, if there were only any who actually had the ability to wield water, they were well hidden. She only wished they had known their visitors' true intentions in their hidden valley all those years ago, now the most luscious province in the world. She tried to swallow past the knot in her throat, truly disheartened that the ruse was over. They were leaving this place.

She glanced at the copse of trees that stretched into the large grove of the garden as she tugged on the cowl of her smock. She could feel her brother, but he was nowhere in sight. She took a deep breath to dispel the unease that had been hanging onto her since she first lost sight of him. It had never really went away and she knew it wouldn't until she saw her brother, but from now on she would be able to see him and see that he was safe. He was more than worth it for the loss of these half truths and protective walls. She couldn't bear the thought of another long separation where Treize would only tell her that her brother was well or would promise he would tell him that she asked about him. She knew it would only deepen the dread and fear for him, for what she didn't know.

"Come now," she blinked up at him, her surprise clear on her face. Treize squeezed her shoulder lightly and guided her away from his company who left them with a wave.

"See you at dinner," she heard one man shout as Treize guided her deeper into the garden.

Treize nodded to them, "Your tutelary shouldn't be too far away, I'd like to have a word with him."

She frowned up at him, suspicious of his intentions. "No, I'm capable of finding him... Sir, thank you. I must be going."

"Aye, there he is."

She stopped short of walking away from him when a masked eunuch approached them. The way his long tunic swept over the dirt floor made it seem as if he _floated_ in stead of walked toward her. She kept the question she wanted to ask from her face as she watched her brother nod to Treize before turning to her with a gesture of his gray gloved hand for her to follow. She smiled, bowing slightly to Treize and then to her brother and moved to catch up to him. She reminded herself to walk and not run, because it was important not to seem too eager to leave Treize's side but eager enough to leave her embarrassment behind. They were casually entering one side of the willowy grove of trees that grew thickly within the palace-temple walls and she put more space between them with a quiet sigh.

She could no longer hold back her thoughts about their chances as Treize lingered. She felt the presence behind her before she saw it. A frown stole over her face as Treize yanked her brother to him, making him stumble to catch himself.

She whipped around to face them, her uneven bangs slipping from beneath her cowl to hang irritatingly over her eyebrows.

"Sir, what _are_ you doing?" she question in a sharp, authoritative tone and all pretense was forgotten. She tensed, her shock quickly becoming anger that someone would be so bold and barbarous enough to harm a eunuch.

"Ah, but you forget yourself."

"Sir-"

"I know." Treize told her simply, his eyes looking fervently at her brother's masked face as he struggled to tuck his head down and hide beneath his hood. Treize caught his hands, holding them in one hand against his chest before removing the gloves from her brother's hands.

"I cannot let you go like this," Treize whispered, kissing what he could of her brother's palms as he struggled, fisting them to stop the kisses then twisting them away when Treize's lips pressed against his wrists. She hadn't noticed the bruises on Millardo's wrists.

She approached them, her hand steadily inching toward the sword at her side as her anger grew. She felt ice slice up her back when she caught a fearful glance from her brother.

"You know _what_ exactly? Leave him be." She commanded, her frown growing with her confusion and feeding into her anger at how familiar Treize was being with even a eunuch of Millardo's station.

Did all of Nartob's soldiers disrespect and molest her temple servants when they tired of the willing? She watched him hold her brother tighter to him and realized that how the soldiers interacted with people of her order was very different from how they behaved before her. It was a blatant disregard of the Order's customs and lack of respect, she would have to talk to Jirrad and soon. But… she was leaving.

_Leaving Heero_... she shook her head, she needed to stay focused on her reason for leaving. She glanced at her brother who had gone still in Treize's hold and knew for his sake, she couldn't go back.

"I am not wrong, my lady, unless this is some sort of experiment that you got one of the eunuchs to agree to help you with." He cut her off before she could speak, "Even if that were the case, no one... No one besides you, my lady, has eyes like his. No one else could glare as coldly as he can." Treize ran his hand down from Millardo's clothed chest to rest low over his stomach. Millardo began to struggle anew.

She eyed her brother then, he was a head taller than Treize and stronger too. Breaking Treize's hold shouldn't have been a task for him even with the bruises. She drew her sword and approached Treize with a grimace. "This will be the last time I say this to you, traitor, release him."

Treize stiffened, his eyes downcast but his hands never left his captive, "Is that a command my high lady?"

She heard him ask her even as he pressed his face into the side of her brother's hood.

He whispered to her brother but it was loud enough for her to hear, his eyes suddenly looking weary and sad. "I'm sorry. It was the only way." Her eyes widened as Treize's arm slide around her brother's waist and squeezed him to him once more before letting him go, taking a large step back.

She came to her brother's side when his whole body seemed to droop, his head lowered and he swayed as if he had no strength left to stay upright. She reached out to help him - hold him up but he caught her by the sleeve of her wrist, stopping her hand. He regained his balance and straightened, looking at everywhere and everything but Treize. She glared at Treize, her animosity failing her at the remorseful longing lingering on his face.

Millardo turned back to the path they were taking, his back stiff and rigid. "We must go," he said crisply in a whispered hiss.

It was good to hear the strength in his voice and she took one last look at Treize before following. She watched as the trees shifted, the path changing under their feet and she marveled at what her brother could do. He stopped and held out his bare hand to her and she took it, using this moment to restore the energy he used with her healing ability. The world quickly grayed and she found concerned ice blue eyes looking deeply into hers, the mask gone.

"Mil-" he caught her hand with his gloved ones and kissed her palm, the lines of worry falling from his pale face as wisps of pale blonde hair slipped from beneath his hood.

He shook his head, his eyes shifting away from her. "You mustn't." He squeezed her hands, his tone harsh, "We've got a long way to go and you'll need your energy if we're to get there before they notice our escape."

Her brows furrowed, she wanted to know why he had stopped her from healing him. She had healed a lot in the minutes she had held his hand before he made her let go but he was still hurting and malnourished. There was something more under it though; if she could touch his skin again, but he had already put his gloves back on and moving his long sleeves would be more than obvious. "Our escape? Mil-"

"Shh, not now! We have to go." He pulled her to her feet, his eyes distant but finally meeting hers. It made her wonder if he had been really talking to her.

She nodded and the trees began to shift around them. Her concerns were quieted when they broke into a run, a mad dash once they got passed the trees into a labyrinth of bushes that grew above their heads. Although she had never been so sheltered as to have not seen the world for what it was, the thought of seeing it without the entire priestess' garb and gilded lens excited her. She breathed in deeply, trying to hold the breath in as long as her lungs would allow at the pace they were running.

A breeze whipped past them in a gentle rustle of spring's new growth as they ran through the vast green garden on a chaotic zigzag to a place unknown to her but by vague memories of playful sounds and shadows. She squeezed the hand gripping hers in a steely grip and he squeezed back.

They were heading to a place outside of the stone walls that vaulted away the only oasis within miles of the Maheran border of Shar, outside of the home she had known for the last ten years. They finally came to a stop at a wall that rose so high it looked as though it could touch the sky. She smiled before it was stolen away by several wheezed coughs.

The wall looked enormous this close up. She remembered looking down from the highest levels of the temple and thinking of it as a white river that divided the temple from the province of bricked and mud homes, sparse trees and farms. She touched the stone, pressing her hand into its cool and bumpy surface. Then she dropped to a crouch and threw up.

"Relena are you unwell?" with her hands braced on her uniformed covered thighs, she looked up into the cold and familiar masked face and smiled at the concerned, cornflower blue eyes she found there.

"..." she coughed again, spitting and covering the mess with the dirt she scuffed up with her boots. Millardo grabbed her shoulders, moving her back. Apparently, he had been talking and she hadn't heard him. He waved his hand over the disturbed earth and it _blended_ with the rest as if there wasn't a big boot mark there a moment ago. She looked back and saw the same behind them. They had left no footprints or disturbed any of the surrounding shrubbery.

She tried for smile and came up with something meek and watery. "I'm well," she answered simply coming to his side, reaching for his mask when she caught sight of his hand straying to his side before he shifted it to the wall. "And out of shape as it would seem from living the life of a priestess." she humored distractedly, watching him.

She reached for his side and he caught her hands, squeezing them. She gazed up into the mask and saw his eyes crinkle at the corners.

"Not now, _Princ_ess," he inclined his head to her slightly, lifting the mask to kiss the backs of her hands and a stray wisp of hair floated past his hood, embroidered with the crosshatched 'x's signifying a eunuch of teaching status. She had been shocked by his formality. If not for his chuckle and sudden pull, that had her stumbling into a hidden passageway that slammed shut as soon as he pulled her through, she would have been fooled.

"Millardo!"

Inside the musty space memories whispered louder to her of a time before it all. A time when her clan folk were many, and where her brother, cousins and she played freely with the children of the citizenry that once lived in Maheran. Everyone had been family to her then and now the hidden passages were haunted by the ghosts of memories.

tbc...


	4. Chapter IV

_Italics_ ~ thoughts

Warnings: Duo torture, Yaoi goodiness, suggestive content

Pairings: eventual 1x2, minor 3x4

Input/feedback much appreciated.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the sexies in Gundam Wing AC, I just love to help them live a little.

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Part IV

He was numb and queasy. He watched his bound hands shake. He'd tried to will them to stop but they shook anyway. He interlaced his fingers, joining his hands together and then squeezed them to try and stop the shaking. It proved to be a wasted effort because the scraps in his hands reminded him they were there, so now they ached on top of the shaking.

He was hungry. Too hungry to feel sick about what had been in his mouth earlier. The old man had made him swallow his blood and he couldn't work up enough spit in his mouth to try and rid himself of the taste. He dry heaved against Heero's back but nothing came up. Though he would like to see what his stomach acid, spit and blood would've looked like on him. It would have been one of the brighter points of his day.

Duo grimaced at the roiling growl that came from his stomach. He knew he was hungry but he'd hoped that his stomach wouldn't hold it. Heero pushed him onward. The other men were saying something but he didn't care enough to try and listen. All he saw were the strangely familiar walls shrinking away from them as they went deeper inside the compound. He scuffed his shoes in the sand when Heero tugged him forward again and he stumbled. He couldn't catch himself this time and he fell to his knees in a cool, soft cushion of green.

"Look!" He growled, whipping his head up and causing his hood to fall back from his head. He glared death at the leader of this group. He'd had enough of being tugged around like some wayward dog. Duo punched the ground and felt cool droplets sprinkle onto his arm. "I'm not-" Duo stopped, looking down at the green stalks surrounding him.

_Grass_. He could barely remember seeing grass this green. Outside the walls of the temple, by the Gault's shop, near the farms - grass, if there was any- was tawny, sparse and always more yellow than green. He leaned forward and buried his face in it. He didn't think he'd get up again.

"I think he fell asleep." He heard someone say curiously behind a chuckle.

"This'll wake him up." He heard shifting feet but still he couldn't will himself to move.

"Ah!" Duo's shocked gasp ended in a coughing fit, the sudden cold bringing him to his feet with his hands flying to his face as he gulped big lungs full of air. He was hopping around now, his heart pounding in his ears, but he could still hear them laughing.

"That brought you back to the world boy." Duo shivered, his uneven bangs a thick, soggy mop in his face. He fisted his hands at his side and glared at the five men before him before his eyes settled on Heero.

Heero's brow quirked at Duo's regard, he hadn't laughed at the boy and neither had his third in command. Tamien just had an amused look on his face. He snorted, "Enough. He's going to be a part of this company, he needs to be fed and clothed."

Duo watched as Heero nodded to two men on his left, one of which was Tamien, who bowed lowly to Heero then rushed off. Duo was jerked forward before he could look back at Heero. Duo glared at Ethan, Heero had given him the tether. Duo spat at him and Ethan jerked the rope again. Duo could see the muscles in his face twitch as Ethan ground his teeth and glanced behind him. Duo didn't need to look over his shoulder to know who was there.

"You're going to the kitchen and then you'll be taken to wash up before you're shown to your room."

Duo glared as much as he could, but the thought of food made his mouth water. The promise of food where the guarantee of it was real, right here and he could smell it. It made him forget the coppery taste in his mouth and queasiness in his stomach.

He swayed as they walked on, this place could have easily been a small city without the great walls and the smells. They were good smells, clean and some heavy but most of them equated to food to his famished body and senses. Duo's stomach cramped and his mouth was now dry and pasty tasting. He groaned and earned a glare from Ethan. He ignored him and slowed when they did, trying to keep track of where they'd come from versus where they were headed.

"Fraix." Duo glanced up, another name to match to, this time, an aged face among his now three captors. Although this man- Fraix- was much older than any of the others in Heero's company. Fraix had a scraggly, black beard that covered all of his mouth. He could tell that if the man smiled all you'd see was his teeth. Fraix wore the same embroidered tunic and shoulder guards as Heero, with two lines beside a black stone on his shoulder labeling him as Heero's second and had a mass of black coarse hair stuffed under a two horned helm, one horn had a broken jagged edge.

"Take him on and Ethan," Duo quirked a brow when the older man snorted in Ethan's direction. Heero continued with a slight upward curve to the corners of his mouth, "will bring him back uniforms and offer you any assistance if the boy won't go to the bathing house."

Fraix nodded his assent, before they left him standing with Fraix. Duo looked around and figured they were somewhere near the back... as far as he could tell, but he couldn't tell much. There was so much green interlaced with sandy, foot worn paths that seemed to lead everywhere. The homes looked sturdier and seemed to be made of the same stuff the walls were. Duo shivered, it was cooler here than outside the walls and he looked up into the leafy branches of trees. He had heard the stories from the vendors who commonly ventured through the palace-temple grounds, about the One's greatness and the beauty of any place she resided in. He'd had his own proof, for a time, he had a leaf bigger than his hand that oddly wouldn't dry out like leaves usually did. He always thought it was because the One had gifted it and that the leaf had came from here, inside these walls where life was better and the One cared for the people. But he never thought he'd actually see trees this large. This alive!

He found himself lulled and comforted by the sound the wind made through the leaves then there was a loud noise in his ears. It was like the sound the fat made in a hot skillet when he'd sometimes watched Angie cook. Then it slammed into him - someone was running and they were afraid. He reached out, wanting to help but his hands dropped to his stomach, his head a heavy weight on his shoulders. Duo felt his eyes grow heavy and he saw the shadows among the leaves grow, blocking out the sun.

"Whoa, there me boy!" Duo closed his eyes tightly against the swimming and nauseating feeling sweeping through him. He thought he'd thrown up but there was only the burn in the in back of his throat and his mouth was dry. He tried to jerk from under the hands on his shoulders but they held on firmly to him. "Come on," he cracked an eye open as the older man half carried him to a back door. His stomach seemed to love making things worse for him, it took that moment to twist up, cramping and making him groan again.

"Ye've been teased enough. Let's get something in ye." Duo's hands braced his stomach, a sweet smell floated on the air and assailed his nose. Duo hesitated at the stairs, feeling lightheaded and frowning at the throbbing in his head. He was sure that he was going to fall over before he'd even taken his first step toward those delicious smells.

Fraix patted the top of his head and then lifted him up under his arm. Duo's face scrunched up when the pain in his stomach made him gag. He could feel spit dribbling down his chin as he dry heaved and a burning sensation welling up in his throat then it strangely subsided. He looked curiously at their moving feet and watched the spittle drip off his nose when his head drooped. Or maybe it was snot. He couldn't tell. He tried to move his hand to wipe it away, and then remembered why his own feet weren't touching the ground, Fraix. But when had Fraix grown two other feet? He looked down at his hands, seeing only one set, and Fraix had only one hand on him. He figured that it was the movement making him see double. His lips quirked to one side, it was funny how the older man's big hand dwarfed both of his but wasn't squishing him to death. He was being gentle. Though he couldn't make himself care enough to think why that seemed off. The lightheadedness blanketed him and his eyes closed, too heavy for him to keep open.

"Come on ye lil'imp! Just 'cuz ye be an acolyte don't mean ye be lagging in yer duties." He heard the door bang open and jerked, opening his eyes to a dim lit room. Fraix dropped him onto a high backed bench at a table and strutted off toward a large oven. Duo shook his head, his hand was still resting on his oddly calm stomach. He looked back to the door, swinging on its hinges still, baiting him to take that chance. To run while the older man was distracted. He sighed going limp in his seat, slouching downward as he ticked off in his mind all reasons why running now would be pointless. Duo especially found he didn't want to be caught by the white haired man with the weird hand, by himself where there would be no witnesses. Or just among the people in these walls who would most likely not care about what happened to him since he'd seen nor heard any protest about his mistreatment on the way to the kitchen.

"Yea, yea! I got Heero's summons. I'm here aren't I? You'd think that would please you old bugger!" Duo smirked at her grumble and saw a shimmer of blue breeze by his table, one of many in the large kitchen and past the stove by a large counter.

Duo glared down at the floor when Fraix reappeared in the girl's place by the counter. "Aw, quit yer gripin' girl and be on with it. The boy's skin and bones!" Duo flinched, feeling uncomfortable with the older man's eyes on him when something heavy settled on his shoulders. His brows furrowed then he gasped loudly at the soft cloth-rubbing and covering his face.

"No!" He struggled, banging his knees painfully against the underside of the wooden table.

"Quit that me boy!" Duo tried to fight off the cloth and Fraix, but found himself gasping and his chest hurting, so he stopped resisting and pressed his bound hands to his chest in hopes of easing the pain. The cloth worked vigorously over his head, down his neck and then his arms. He glared up at the man, his hair sticking up at odd angled curls from his braid and his bangs, a damp but weighty cowlick to one side of his face. Fraix brought the towel to his chin, tilting his head up to him and laughed before he continued.

"Can't have ye being a soggy mutt at the kitchen table. Me misses wouldn't like it," Fraix said thoughtfully and couldn't help the mirth in his voice when Duo half squawked and kicked out at the brusqueness of the towel going over his legs. "Me've suffered many a meal out in the yard or on the porch for it." He added catching Duo's other leg when Duo tried to kick him and smirked back at Duo's continued glare. Duo leaned back on one elbow, resigned to take the toweling with a sullen pout and flushed cheeks.

"There. A real bath'll do ye good." Fraix released Duo's leg, and Duo scrambled back into his seat, tucking his legs under him and leaning on his bound hands. Fraix shook his head, allowing himself to settle in the seat and stare at Duo. Duo glared at him under his lashes, watching the powerful arms and large hands for any sudden movements. But Fraix simply sat there seemingly lost in thought and watching him.

"Ay, ay." Fraix said with a great sigh, but mostly to himself, snatching up the dirty towels off the table and folding them together at his side. Fraix patted the acolyte he'd been speaking to earlier on top of her head before passing her to lean against the kitchen's long counter. The acolyte kept her head half bowed and didn't look at Duo as she put a bowl of steaming broth in front of him.

Duo eyed the soup wearily and bit his lip at the mouth-watering smell of it. He glanced up and saw the girl come back again with a plate holding a piece of bread and cheese then a cup and a pitcher of water. He blinked at it all, his head tilting to the side in wide-eyed amazement. He hadn't had so much food given to him alone before. Duo looked to the girl in confusion and found her watching him. She jumped slightly when their eyes met, her cheeks flushing before she turned her head away from him. The girl had her hair up in a ponytail, her shoulder bearing the same mark as all the acolytes. Yet, he glanced back up to her face and caught her eyes again even though she huffed and returned his curious gaze with a glare, he knew her.

The girl frowned at him before crossing her arms over her chest. She stomped over to his table.

"What?" She grouched, her cheeks coloring further under his intense perusal. She fidgeted then grabbed his cup and poured water into it before slamming it on the table closer to him. "Eat." She huffed and Fraix slapped her across the rear.

"Ow!" She spun around and glared fire. Duo sat up at the odd stirring in his chest, glancing between the two and watching Fraix brushing his hands together with a smirk. Fraix glanced over at him, his eyebrow twitching up into the coarse hair peeking out from under his helm, before returning to the girl in front of him, his expression dark.

"Me've been the one t'rear ye, me girl. Don't be forgetting where ye're from." Fraix was half crouching with a hand patting his knee, the girl's defiant expression melted into a pout. "Hilde, ye ain't too old t'go across me knee again." He reminded his voice stern unaffected by her pout.

Hilde flushed and looked away. She glanced at Duo and then back at Fraix, expression sincere. "I'm sorry, me Da. Trieze's men made me so mad Da!"

Fraix nodded, his own expression softening and Duo couldn't help smirking at that. "Ye be knowing not t'mind them eyes. They be knowing t'mind their hands and manners. If they touch ye-"

Hilde smiled, hugging him and stopping his rant with a shake of her head. "They don't. They wouldn't. They say things about Sophil," she pressed her face into Fraix's shoulder, "and she lets them. I just don't understand it is all."

Duo watched them; his chest aching as he swallowed passed the lump in his throat.

Fraix stroked Hilde's back with one big hand until she let him go, "But ye be knowing that not all of us are like that."

Hilde nodded, with one eyebrow raised in question before glancing in Duo's direction. "Yea," She said, smiling at Fraix then her smile grew when she turned to him. Duo felt heat flush across his nose at her sudden attention, but he didn't look away.

"Off with ye girl, don't want ye t'be late t'be seeing to the One."

She nodded, sprinting away, only to turn back from the door, run up to Fraix and kiss him on his cheek before leaving out the way she came. Duo watched him stare wistfully after his daughter before he picked up a towel he'd dropped then came over to him and put the towel back on Duo's shoulders. "Clean, bruises and all, ye stun me girl." He heard Fraix mutter, shaken by the heavy-handed pat on his shoulder that followed. "Dig in me boy. Me girl's put heart into that meal for ye."

Duo made a face at him, then the food and that got him a bop on the head. "Go on," Fraix encouraged before disappearing behind the counter. Duo eyed the broth and the bread, then grabbed for the bread when his stomach sent him a painful twitch to remind him he was hungry.

Fraix returned and smirked at Duo, whose cheeks were puffed out on either side of his face with food and broth trickled out one corner of his mouth as he chewed. He sat down in front of Duo, looking at his still bound hands.

Duo chewed slower and watched Fraix under his lashes. The older man said nothing, seemingly entranced by the tether that bound his hands. Duo gulped down the food in his mouth, looking away from Fraix and slowly reached for the water cup.

Fraix grimaced, "Ye don't have t'swallow the table me boy. It'll still be here if ye take yer time."

Duo froze, realizing that he wasn't just looking at his hands. Duo went back for the bowl of broth, Fraix sounded mad and food disappeared more often then not when people were angry with you about something. He started gulping again, trying to ignore the weight of the eyes watching him.

Fraix sighed, snatching the bowl out of Duo's hands and pulling his hands down to the table. He smirked when Duo growled at him. Fraix put the bowl down near Duo's hands, his thumb rubbing over redden skin the tether had rubbed raw and spoke like a person calming a skittish animal, "It'll still be here. Ye gonna make ye'self sick. Ye don't have t'go anywhere until me say so."

Duo licked his lips and looked anywhere but at the older man. "What ye be called me boy?"

Duo flinched. He didn't know why he did but the man was be friendly, too friendly and it made him wary of him. Duo moved back as far as he could on bench and gave his hand a good jerk. He bit his lip when Fraix jerked him back toward him and nearly on top of the table, his ribs hit the table's edge making him groan in pain.

"Ye don't want to be renamed do ye?" Duo glared at the tender tone Fraix using with him and for some reason Tamien, someone he hadn't bothered looking at much in Heero's company, popped into his mind. He frowned at Fraix and jerked his arms, trying to free his bound hands of his hold.

"Is this what you guys did to the others? To Ethan? Show them this place," Duo jerked his chin to the left and right to indicate the room, "gave them water and gave them food?!" Duo spat out the last with distaste and a grimace. "You made them feel safe so you could trick them!" Duo jerked free, shaking the table hard enough to knock the pitcher and the bowl over onto the floor. Duo's watched it fall without really seeing that nothing hit the floor but an empty bowl and pitcher. His chest tightening from the pressure that was building inside him, but his anger was blinding and he was left standing there glaring at the table as it shook. Duo didn't react to the heavy hand settling on his shoulder nor did he try to resist the grip that pushed him back down into his seat, his knees buckling under him.

Duo blinked at the touch to the side of his face, his eyes watering for not having moved them for so long. The rough fingers touching his cheek slid down to his chin, tilting his head back and up to look at the older man. He flinched expecting to be hit in some way but nothing happen. Fraix just stared down at him with a sorrowful expression in his eyes and a droopy beard. Then he felt everything else - his chest heaved as he inhaled, demanding the air he'd unknowingly stop breathing. His eyes stung when he blinked up at the older man, and felt his anger melting away.

"Ye name, son." Fraix searched his eyes and Duo found he couldn't look away, not even at the sound of something like glass breaking.

"Duo." his name, it spilled from his mouth like air and he couldn't find the anger in it or anger at himself for telling it. He knew he should be but he couldn't. He felt that if the older man asked him anything else at that very moment he would've told him.

Fraix smiled, nodding his head and releasing his shoulder with a warm pat.

"Fraix, I have his clothes." Ethan muttered, pushing the door open and tossing a sack at Duo's feet.

Duo swayed again and rubbed at his aching shoulder.

_Suppressor_. The word came to him like a whisper through his mind - a breath against his ear and left too quickly for him to hold onto. It was important but he couldn't figure out why.

Duo watched, oddly numb again, as Fraix touched a black stone on his right shoulder. "Heero, the tether?"

Duo tilted his head, curious at the admonishing tone Fraix had with Heero.

"Saa." He heard Heero say as the black stone pulsed.

_Amuse you do I!_ He fumed silently to himself. He could hear the laughter in the voice of the cold face Captain. Duo scowled, this wasn't some joke for him. The numb feeling was wearing off and he was getting angrier. He felt his hands fall free as prickly pain raced up his arm, his hands were no longer bound.

"And is he..." Duo saw the black stone pulse in time with Heero's voice.

"Ay, that be his name. He has no memory of the other." Fraix smiled at him and turned so Duo could see the stone better and continued. "He be of age and... nescient." Fraix shook his head and rested his hand on Duo's back as he retrieved the sack, lifting it by the strap revealed it to be a satchel. "Ethan, we be fine. Ye need not be bothering with this. Ye can go."

Ethan left with a blank look on his face and no argument. Duo watched him leave and let Fraix steer him out into the long hall where his daughter had entered from. Duo bit his lip, shrugged off Fraix and put plenty of distance between them.

Fraix looked at him questioningly, staying close enough to reach out and grab Duo if he tried to runaway.

"I'll not run." Duo offered, walking more to the side and keeping an eye of Fraix's hands.

Fraix smiled with a nod, "That be good of ye. It be further down."

"What did you do to me?"

Fraix arched a brow, "Me calmed ye, be all." He shook his head at him, "Ye need discipline."

Duo frowned to cover up his confusion, turning right, then down a winding instep to the left then right again before stopping at a large door that didn't look much different from several others in this hall. Fraix looked through contents of the satchel and put a wrapped bundle in one of the pouches on the side.

"Everything ye need be in there. Go in and clean up, then me be taking ye to yer room. If ye be needing me, just touch the black stone on the right shoulder of ye shoulder guard." Duo said nothing and Fraix folded the guard and put it back in the satchel before handing it to Duo.

Duo stared at the offered satchel before taking it cautiously but his movements were too slow. Fraix caught his arm near the back of his elbow. Duo jerked in his grasp and felt his heart seize up before screaming in his chest. He glared in half shock at Fraix, feeling foolish for accepting the bag. He looked up into the aged visage and found Fraix's face was grim looking, cold, his thick beard drooping in what he could only assume was a scowl hidden beneath the hairy mass. He bit his lip, frowning at Fraix and getting nothing in return for the sudden change in his mood.

Duo pulled on his arm again when Fraix tighten his grip.

_What's he trying to say?!_ Duo thought in frustration letting, his confusion show on his face and through his expressive eyes. He jerked on his arm again when he felt his heart slow. He swallowed; fear grabbing at him because he was anything but calm and his heart was slowing without him doing anything. Duo struggled, trying to pry Fraix's fingers from the back of his elbow. Duo gazed at Fraix in confusion and a little fear and understood what Fraix expression was demanding of him. In one word it said, "Don't."

Fraix nodded to him, releasing his arm. Duo hugged his arm to his side, the satchel lying forgotten on the floor. Duo squeezed his arm and felt nothing. He could move his fingers but his arm remained a heavy weight against his side.

Duo pushed past the older man when the door was opened. There was no lock, but his shoulders were too tense to slump like he thought they should. He let go of the breath he'd been holding once the door fell shut and barely noticed the satchel landing by his feet. He looked around for windows. There were none. Duo cursed, kicking the wall until his foot started to hurt. He turned around in a huff of frustration, thumping his back against the wall before he slid down into a ball with his limp arm between him and his knees. He wasn't completely in the room but in a short hall that opened up further in. He leaned to the side, trying to peak around the corner without moving until he fell over onto his side.

He rolled onto his stomach and let his face rest on the cool stone floor. His once numb arm tingled beneath him, he shifted bringing his hand up to his face. He stared at his hand as he ran his fingertips over the surface of the floor, it was rigid like a natural formation and nothing like the man made halls on the other side of the door. He looked around as he stood up and tripped over the satchel on the floor. He stopped himself from kicking it when he saw the thing Fraix had wrapped and put in the side pocket sticking out. He squatted down over the bag and poked at it. It was the size of his two hands put together, and weighty. He pulled the knot and gasped.

"I don't understand."

Duo looked away, pained and confused, letting the cloth and its contents fall to the floor. He bit his lip and caught the cheese before it could roll away. He put it back in the cloth with the bread, re-wrapped it and put it back in the satchel before picking it up and walking into the large room. The floor sloped downward but wasn't slippery. There was this sound that grew louder the deeper he went into the dimly lit room - chamber. His foot splashed down and he forgot to breathe. The bathing chamber was like an underground cave with smooth stone walls in some places, little water spouts that came out of several places in the walls and drained off into small recessed holes alit by furry masses. Further toward the back there was a large waterfall and several communal baths that were stacked like steps. They were continuously refilled with water from its corners where they touched the waterfall. They overflowed into mini falls themselves that all ran into a stream emptying into another recessed hole.

He ran his fingers along the wall and across a glowing mass, one of many that he could saw all over the chamber and seemed to be the reason why the place had light.

_Glow fuzz?_ He shook his head, _that's not it_. He smiled, a child's voice - his voice? He wasn't sure, but he heard it. Remembered it saying 'glow fuzz' again and again in a child's excited glee as he ran his fingers through the softly glowing mound. It sparked under his touch and grew brighter. It didn't hurt. The chamber lichen gave off a yellow, blue-green light that coalesced into the chamber's overall soft yellowish glow.

Duo grabbed at his worn tunic, there was an odd pull in his chest that directed his steps. The strange pull had him moving away from the wall to step fully into the large chamber and closer to the waterfall. He saw several more doors and suddenly he knew why all doors on this level looked the same. _They all lead to here and there's so much water._ Duo's next step had his arms flailing for something to grab onto. He barely had a grip on the ledge, his fingers slipping on the smooth but bumpy surface. It was warm, warmer then the rest of the chamber and Duo managed to get his arm over the ledge. He was panting and his ribs hurt every time he breathed after slamming them into the side of the shaft. Duo squinted as he strained to grab on to what looked like a rocky protrusion and he could only hope it was rooted to the chamber floor. His hand closed over it and his fingers dug in to... warm fuzz. He squeezed it and it exploded into water. He lost his hold at the shock of cold that shot through his arm. He gasped, feeling nails break and scrapes reopen as he tried to get a grip on the slick surface.

Then the chamber's light was fading, the shaft he'd fallen down rising up around him along with the warming darkness. He was falling and there seemed to be no end.

tbc...


	5. Chapter V

_Italics_ ~ thoughts

Warnings: Duo torture, yaoi= MXM goodiness

Pairings: eventual 1x2, minor 3x4

Input/feedback much appreciated.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the sexies in Gundam Wing AC, I just love to help them live a little.

Part V

He was in a cocoon of warmth and it was getting hotter. He pulled his dirty hood over his head, soon his worn tunic and shoes followed. He stretched and rolled and it felt so good on his sore ribs and aching back. Duo wondered if he was dreaming again, but he could see nothing. He brought his hand up to his face and started in surprise before continuing. He felt the lines on his forehead as his eyebrows quirked and his body felt strange – heavy but weightless at the same time. Duo ran his fingers over his face slowly, and found that his eyes were open even though he felt himself blink. He withdrew his hand away from his face and then quickly brought it back. He did it again, not quite sure how to explain what he was feeling. He stopped and the little gusts – whooshes stopped colliding with his face. They sort of rolled against his skin and then around him, where the force of the movement died the further it got away from him.

Duo turned toward the whoosh against his ear and felt a hum. It wasn't exactly a sound but vibrations, all around him. He felt the whooshes get stronger, swirling and pushing him enough for him to realize that his feet weren't touching anything solid. The vibrations stopped and he just floated, wondering where in this dark void would be something to ground himself with. He started away from where the pressure coming from his back, his arms swinging and hands seeking anything and finding nothing in the darkness. Duo was suddenly smashed against an unseen wall, his back arched away from it and pain exploded in his head before he went limp. The pressure pushed his limp body upward and against jagged surfaces with increasing speed then dissipated.

Duo choked back to awareness and trembled at a particularly rigid part of the wall scrubbing against his back. All at once he remembered falling, the pain in his hands and the strange fuzz and the shock of his body hitting the water. The same cold shock that ran up his arm had filled his body and chased away his fear when the water swallowed him up and pulled him down beneath its surface before he woke here. He choked again, his hand coming up to cover his mouth, the movement causing everything to stir around and disrupting the whooshes - the current he realized. Then it hit him; he was still under water.

Duo coughed, even though he had one hand clamped as tightly as he could over nose and mouth air still escaped. Duo curled up and then snapped straight, trying frantically to move himself up, at least in the direction he thought was up and not the direction of the shifting current. He felt his chest start to burn but he was moving, he didn't know how he knew the motions but his feet stayed together and helped propel him. Duo started to feel the strain in his arms and legs when he was slammed against another wall, this time so hard that bubbles exploded from his mouth and raced over his head. He drifted, dazed and watching his hands drift away from his face and feeling his body turn over. He floated away with the pressure of the water, his lungs protested as his body automatically tried to inhale what he couldn't breathe.

Helplessly, he coughed and watched the last of his air leaving him in a gust of bubbles. His vision dimmed even though the light in the shaft was getting brighter, the chamber getting closer. He couldn't bring himself to care; he just wished that he didn't have to die in this strange place.

Duo eyes slid shut just as he was thrown out of the shaft by the force of the water. The geyser splashed down in all directions, bringing Duo with it. Duo's body made a loud wet smack against the floor when he hit it, face first.

Duo laid there, motionless, face pressed to the floor and the water from the geyser falling like warm rain, pooling and rolling across his body. His eyes cracked open to a throbbing, moving blurriness, and a sharp pain stabbed him right between the eyes. He groaned, the sound bubbling up off the water-covered floor and he inhaled only to have his whole body seize up as he broke out into a watery coughing fit. With each cough he snorted more water and he knew that fates had it out for him. From one bad situation to the next, his throat ached when groaned and his head felt heavier than the rest of him when he tried to keep his face out of the water. Duo rested on his chin for a moment, then rolled along it, panting raggedly when his neck gave out and his ear splashed down in the water. He felt the prickling ache in his chest and the pulsing pain in his head ease with each breath he took. Duo squeezed his eyes shut and tried to breathe through his nose, instantly regretting it. His arm was at an odd angle. He tried to move it and stopped trying, the pain in his arm but mostly at his shoulder made things fade away.

The rain of water soon stopped but he stayed where he was. Duo frowned, at some point his eyes had closed. He winced as he attempted to open them, his face felt puffy and his eyes stuck together.

"You said you saw him move the water?" The tone was patronizing. The voice was older, not Fraix, and somehow that disappointed him.

There was nothing for a while and Duo thought that he'd fallen asleep again until he heard feet sloshing through the water. "Y-yes. Shouldn't we inform Jirrad?"

_Ethan!_ Duo thought, happy and hopeful until he remembered that his lost friend wasn't his friend anymore.

"Not, if the boy didn't do it. " The older man snapped, irritated. "He couldn't even stop the water from the hot spring from bashing him up. You saw him."

Duo shivered when hot hands grabbed him at the shoulders and lifted him up. Someone grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back and then everything faded away before fuzzily coming back to the sound of someone screaming. He heard it trail off, the pressure on his on arm was gone replaced by a constant throbbing in his shoulder. Duo hung limply in the hands that held him and he wondered if he was really awake.

"Don't harm the boy." He heard hissed as the wet squish of shoes in the water came closer and then a hand was on his chest, feeling up to his collar bone and moving his head from side to side.

"I didn't. I guess I could have waited for him to be conscious before popping his shoulder back in place." Duo frowned, his head lolling on his shoulders before Ethan pulled his head up by his hair.

"Hmm." Duo managed to crack open an eye to find the unwanted hand linger on his shoulder, thumb digging at a finger sized scar as if he thought it was painted on.

Duo shuddered when the nail pressed into his skin and scraped along the scar leaving a red welt in its wake. Biting his lip, Duo cracked open one eye and saw the bald man he'd seen earlier smiling at him. "He's awake."

Duo tried to pull away when the old man's hands traced along his side then trailed back up along his ribs but his battered body refused to respond. He wanted so badly to just slip into the gray fuzziness that ringed his vision but Duo's skin crawled beneath the probing/prodding fingers and the bald man has this look in his eyes. He shook his head, or tried to, his head felt too big on his shoulders and heavy. Duo gritted his teeth and struggled to keep his eyes open, too determined to keep an eye on the bald man in front of him. He felt the man's hands settle over his ribs, the thumb of one hand thumping against each bony protrusion.

"Too thin." The bald man remarked. Duo glared as best he could as the man's hands settled over his hips next and the thin material of his leggings felt like they weren't there at all. The old man smiled and slid his fingers beneath the waistband on his right side where the material had already started to roll against his skin.

"Senjit -" Duo heard Ethan start to say until Senjit looked at him.

"Turn him around, Ethan." Senjit said with distaste, losing interest in toying with Ethan and pushed Duo into him. "I have no interest in boys. Are you still sure you want to get Jirrad for this?" He let that hang in the air with a tight expression on his face. "You are free to go get him, but I won't be staying."

Senjit looked at Ethan meaningfully and his mouth quirked at Ethan's pale face, "You'd have to stay here and make sure he doesn't... escape."

The hands on his shoulders tighten and then he was turned, his vision tunneling with the movement. He panted his head too heavy to hold up anymore and his forehead thumped to rest against Ethan's stiff shoulder. Duo tensed as fingers pushed and poked at the skin of his shoulder then pushing his braid over it with a huff.

"He's filthy," was all Duo heard before he was yanked around by his arm and pain burned from his shoulder and ran across his chest. Duo stumbled after, trying to keep up with Senjit on shaky legs.

Senjit grabbed a handful of the glowing fuzz off a wall and stalked toward the waterfall-dragging Duo with him.

"Senjit!" Ethan watched as he threw Duo into the shallow end of the collecting pool, his feet shifting beneath him, uncertain of whether he should go to Duo or to Senjit. Ethan stopped his feet from dancing and wondered why he'd been even debating the choice. He hugged himself briefly, and then went to Senjit.

Duo gasped, thrashed about and attempted to get his sore body to coordinate itself enough to get out of the pool. He managed to get up on his hands and knees, the water slapping against his shoulders and slouching over his back. He rose but Senjit caught him by his bruised arm and pulled him back down into the water.

"Afraid of the water," Senjit chortled and cast a doubtful eye Ethan's way. "Ethan, get that rag off him." Senjit growled running the rough spongy fuzz harshly over Duo's back, arms and chest.

"Y-yes, sir." Ethan dropped to his knees next to the bald man and reached in to the water towards Duo's legs with a deep frown marring his face. Duo's foot slipped free of Ethan's hands each time. Aggravated, Ethan leaned in further and got kicked in the face.

Senjit sat back on his legs, laughing as Ethan fell into the water after wobbling and trying to find his balance.

Duo leaned back on his good arm in the water, partially afloat, glaring at the two before him with narrowed eyes. His breathing sounded loud in his own ears against the water's surface and his body trembled and burned beneath its surface from Senjit's rough cleaning. He wondered if he had any skin left and watched, as everything seemed to stand still. He lurched to the side and almost under the water. Duo's eyes snapped open when water flooded his nose and he righted himself blowing air through his nose. His heart was pounding in his chest at nearly slipping beneath the water. He looked around to find the old bald man still sitting on the pool's bank, but he couldn't find Ethan anywhere. He forced himself to sit up when a hand latched on to his ankle and pulled him under.

Duo wrestled with Ethan, but his former friend was stronger and kept him under until Duo was tired and too starved for air to keep struggling. Ethan held him still, allowing his nose and mouth to breach the surface while he easily ripped the worn leggings from his body. Ethan stayed in the water and pulled Duo up to sit in front of him.

"Such a troublesome waif." Senjit muttered in annoyance, rubbing the sponge against sudsy mauve and earth-toned rocks. Duo was too busy gulping down air to really notice Senjit was reaching for him, but at his touch, he shrank away from Senjit's hand.

Senjit grimaced, reached in, tugging Duo's legs out from where he had them tucked tightly between himself and Ethan. Senjit tisked at nearly pulling Duo back under but continued on with his examination, confident that Ethan would keep the boy above water. He ignored Duo as he squirmed, flinched and whimpered every time he scrubbed at the boy's lower body. He turned Duo over by his ankles, making Duo grab onto Ethan's shoulders to keep from falling in the water. Senjit remained indifferent to any discomfort and pain he was causing Duo, focused on inspecting the pale skin he cleaned until it was flushed pink and any markings he'd discovery.

Duo was in too much agony to think about why Ethan was so board-like and allowing him to cling to him. He just wanted everything to stop moving and not to swallow any more water. He was sure his stomach would rebel in its happiness soon and everything he'd eaten today - willingly and unwillingly- would come back up all over poor Ethan. Suddenly the sponge stopped, when he felt those bruising fingers dig into something above his left buttock. He couldn't describe it but it made him want to scratch at it. He felt Senjit touch around the numb spot then press on it. Something shifted and he squirmed in Senjit's grasp. Senjit pressed on it again then stopped when Duo gasped. Senjit pulled him, bottom up, out of the water.

"Hold him." Before he processed what the bald man said, the numb feeling became waves of agony.

Duo twisted, trying to pull away and kicked until the skin of his left hip was throbbing in time with his shoulder. He squeezed his eyes shut at the pain of the digging fingers until the pain became a throbbing ache. He sagged against Ethan, shivering in a cold sweat as Senjit lowered him back into the water. He glanced over his shoulder and saw a long scrape and bruising near his spine that was two fingers long and wide with a small, coin sized hole sluggishly bleeding in the center of it.

Senjit chuckled, "Look." He bid him.

Duo blearily looked to the bald man. Senjit held up a ridged bloody stone, the size of an eye between his thumb and index finger. He smirked at Duo, his bulbous nose flattening and spreading slightly, "It looks like the hot spring wants you to remember it."

Senjit threw it over his shoulder and went back to Duo's back, carefully going over the abraded skin as if he'd be able to find something, read something in it.

Duo drifted, his eyes barely open and his arms falling limply to his sides, splashing down in the red tinged water floating in an odd little ring close to his body and thinning with the motion of the current. He stared at it, head heavy on Ethan's shoulder and thought about it swirling and it did. He watched it grow larger in the small space between his elbow, his side and Ethan's side. His blood became a deeper red, separating from the water and making the swirl more distinctive. He felt Ethan shift, heard his breath hitch and Duo thought of what his face must have looked like in that moment and watched the red make lines and the water shade.

The water knew. It could see what he couldn't.

Ethan started and Duo winced, the old man's hand clenched around his leg, telling him to stay put. Duo heard the water splash and glanced up at the red streaking out of the sponge before it was rinsed clear with a final dunk and one handed squeeze.

_The fuzz… a sponge?_ Duo realized the old man had used the chamber's fuzzy light sources as a sponge and a feeling of apprehension flickered in the back of his mind.

Senjit ran the sponge over the wound again and everything was blotted out by pain. Senjit turned Duo back over to his front all the while muttering to himself about marks and tattoos.

"Sen-" Ethan began looking up from the water, and then found himself cursing and finding nothing. The water had changed and took the shape of a face, his face! He looked down again and glared at the water - nothing.

"Get his hair undone. I need to check his scalp." Senjit grumbled as he scrutinized the sole of Duo's pinken foot then in between and around his toes.

Ethan balked. "He's one! I know it! Is it so hard to believe-"

"Do it. No one will _believe_ if he doesn't have a mark _and_ can't command an element. You said you saw him move the water?"

"He froze it..." Ethan muttered with a nod, tired of being asked the same question again and again. It was as if the bald man believed his answer would change in some way. He started to tell Senjit about the face in the water but closed his mouth to a puckered lip frown, knowing how pointless that would be if the old man hadn't seen it himself.

"Then find the mark," came Senjit's agitated retort.

Ethan hesitated, fingers already caught in the middle of the braid where it hadn't unraveled from the water, knowing the old man was right. "Couldn't you just let me cut it off and look?" He looked to Senjit with hopeful eyes and then glared at the top of Duo's head when the old man ignored him.

Duo felt Ethan's shoulders sag in resignation. Duo felt the heat in his eyes spillover as his head was wrenched and yanked until his hair was free. He screamed under the water when he was suddenly dunked and the hard sponge was back again.

O-----------------------OoO----------------------O

Duo groggily woke to smothering warmth and bolted upright. He immediately felt around him, holding his breath and his heart pounding in his chest. He tried to push back the panic and reassure himself he wasn't under the water. Duo started to breathe shakily and then as regularly as he could. He dropped his head into his hands and tried to pull himself together. The billowy sleeves of the soft shirt he wore hung off his elbows as to more calming breaths. His nose throbbed a little from the pressure of his hands but it felt like he still had water in it. He opened his fingers over his eyes and saw thick covers pooled around his waist. He ran his hand over the fine sheets and pressed down into soft mattress beneath him.

He lay back down, kicking the covers down to his knees and closed his eyes. Dark blue violets popped open moments later at the soft crackling sound that reached his ears. He'd been trying to ignore it with little success. He was fully clothed, though the shirt was a size too large. He sat up and for the first time he noticed the firelight that lit up the room. He rubbed at his eyes with the back of his sleeve-covered hand and started at the clacking sound. He followed the sound with his eyes and found the fire roaring in its hearth then flared and clacked as another piece wood broke and shifted against the others.

Duo listened to the fire crackling for several heart beats, firelight dancing in his eyes adding a golden hue to his skin. He frowned, realizing that this wasn't the barracks. He kicked the covers the rest of the way off and winced.

Tentatively, he turned, his feet hanging off the high bed and slid a hand along his side. Duo felt the bandaged wrappings covering most of his stomach and back. His fingers shook as he pressed at his back where he remembered the wound being, it was hotter there than the rest of him and he bit his bottom lip, tears welling up in his eyes as he touched the area. He took his hand away from his left side and looked at his fingers, they were dry.

Duo took a deep breath and exhaled loudly as he forced himself to his feet, half his face scrunched up because of his taut side and the twinges of fire that followed when used the muscles there. He quickly caught the waist band of the pants he wore when he felt them start to drop not liking the prospect of having to pull them back up again.

He stiffly stepped away from the bed and onto the cold stone floor and immediately started sneezing. Duo winced every time he sneezed and his damp braid thumped against his back, its heavy weight reminding him of another ache at its roots. He squeezed he's eyes shut and swore he'd beat them bloody for... the bath. Soon, he promised silently then grimaced and decided soon would have to be after he didn't hurt so much. He ran his nose across his sleeved arm and winced at the throbbing twinge in his side and the smaller ache in his shoulder.

More wood clacked and the fire crackled and his attention returned to the hearth. There was something hypnotic about the fire; it was not sparked by ordinary means and somehow it reminded him of the girl from earlier. Duo walked toward the hearth, its radiating heat – the fire and froze at the snort that came from the dark corner next to it. He saw a darker shape move within the shadow and the top of one booted foot slip into the firelight. Duo trembled at thought of what the white haired man had said to him before. More so at the thought of the shadowy figure being the white haired man and watching him, but Duo glared as fearlessly as he could and swallowed past the lump in his throat. He wouldn't let him see he was afraid. He turned stiffly, looking for a door or a window.

"It's good you woke on your own."

Duo whipped around to the shadows and winced. He quickly shifted it to a scowl, and it became easier to use the pain to cement that expression, as the man's wild hair was the first part of him slip from the shadows. Fire lit, dark eyes flicked to him for a moment, the light made Heero's eyes mercurial as he studied him and Duo found he couldn't look away from them. Heero stared into the fire, turning in slight movements so that all of his back or front was visible in the light. Duo watched Heero and blushed, scowling again when one corner of the messy haired man's mouth turned up. Heero knew he was watching him.

"We'll be moving out, tonight." Most of Heero's back was facing him now, and only the profile of his face could be seen by the firelight as he spoke. "Get dressed," Heero gestured toward the bed and Duo looked away from Heero to the uniform draped over the end of the bed.

Duo looked at him incredulously and wondered did he seriously expect him to be a willing participant in anything he and his company did.

Heero's brow furrowed, or what Duo could see of the one side, and Duo got a one eyed glare. Heero turned to him, his arms crossed over his chest, "The importance of this mission allows us to skip that you haven't been trained and are more than a handicap to my company than we need. We could leave you here-" Heero shook his head, more to himself then to Duo who had a feeling that 'here' that Heero was referring would be this room. "No, we're going to need everyone if we're to catch up to the kidnappers who have taken the One." A thoughtful expression stole over Heero's face, making Duo wonder what else had come messy haired man's mind, since it seemed like he was talking to himself and less for Duo's benefit. "But perhaps it's more like she's missing-"

"Missing?" Duo parroted the tone; it was too casual and careless. How could this soldier not care what happen to her?

Heero raised a brow at Duo, continuing as if he hadn't heard him. "Fortunately for you, they're allowing everyone to go and that means you don't have to go on the tour. I wouldn't recommend it for you so soon anyway, since it seems you can't even wash yourself."

Duo flushed. "I can! You tell them bastards to stay away from me!" Duo bit his bottom lip that guy with the nose had been looking for some mark but he couldn't remember if he found anything. All that came to him were glimpses of faces through all his hair, Fraix and …Heero. Then there was fuzzy one that made him feel like he couldn't breathe again with Heero's eyes right in front of his, glowing and the nose man being thrown into the water. Duo stared at Heero, his brow twitching as he tried to understand why he'd do that for him.

"Regardless of that, you took too long." Heero said snootily.

_None of this is my fault!_ Duo fumed mentally. "If you had just let me stay with the Gaults, you wouldn't have to deal with none of this. With people like you, I can see why she left with them. Maybe she's happier where she is!" Duo yelled the last, his fists clenched and his thin body vibrating with his anger.

Heero dropped his hands to his sides and took a threatening step forward, "Let me make this clear, when we go, there's no place for you to go. You can't escape. The next city is a month's journey from here."

Duo glared at him and decided that the memory was nothing but a hallucination brought on by almost drowning, several times. He didn't care what Heero spouted; this was his chance. He'd go and help them find the One and he'd get his chance to talk to her. Then he'd leave and go somewhere. Anywhere was fine as long as it was away from Maheran.

All emotion slipped from Heero's face when he saw the determined gleam in Duo's eyes. "There's no escape. Leave my company and I can't protect you, especially if you've decided to do this out in the wilds." Heero stood painfully straight, his voice devoid of the playful warmth or anger he'd allowed to be heard moments before.

Duo looked away from Heero. He'd been beyond the farms before, pass the bordering gates and seen the barren lands and sand. The sand – ranging from a reddish brown to brownish yellow color – was everywhere and with it there an emptiness he felt that didn't belong to him. A need that he couldn't define but it called to him, drew him to the boarders of Maheran. He went every time and wait, looking out passed the dunes that served as barriers against the rest of the desert, the sandstorms and out toward the graying mountains. He could only see the white, rugged tops but he knew they were there.

He glanced at Heero's blank face and decided that that's where he'd go.

Duo glared at Heero, his lips pressed in a thin line, he wanted to prove him wrong. _The cocky bastard_,he thought to himself but he wouldn't give into that urge and tell him. He sure didn't want him to follow him and for some strange reason he knew he would.

_Then drag me all the way back to this hell hole_, his glare became a frown because he wasn't exactly sure about that part though. But it wasn't such a bad place, there was Angie and he'd take her with him if he could.

_The old man too_, he conceded, his eyes misting as he limped back to the bed and held onto the bedpost when a wave of dizziness made him weak in the knees. Everything in him ached and told him to go back toward the warmth, the fire and back to Heero. He panted, both of his hands gripping the post as he tried to make sense of it. It felt like Heero and he were having an argument. Like the ones he'd seen between Angie and Mr. Gault and what he felt -the anger, resentment, hurt and dislike -were temporary things. He shook his head, freeing the cold sweat that beaded on his brow to roll down his face.

They weren't.

He didn't know this man. They were never friends. He slid his hands over the frame and moved the clothes aside. The satchel was there and a jagged stone. He remembered, it was the dark and bloody thing from before. It caught a flicker of the firelight, sparkled slightly when he moved the satchel. The stone was oddly warm when he picked it up.

Duo looked down at it in his palm, straightening as he blinked the last of ache faded and so did the dizziness.

"Duo?"

He shuddered and winced, wondering when Heero had moved. He heard the question in his name mingled with something else. _Concern? Right._ He didn't like this Heero person saying his name like that or any kind of way.

Duo squeezed the stone, fisting it in his hand; he was tempted to throw it at Heero's head. Duo glanced over his shoulder, the man was several steps closer to him, his face that expressionless mask still. Heero was staring at him and Duo stared back. He'd make it his decision. "I don't need anything from you. I'll go with you and help find the One."

Heero smirked at him as if placating a small child who didn't get what his parents had said to him. Duo felt his face catch fire. He was not a child. He was a man, despite his appearance. He wondered where Fraix was and wished the old confusing man was here instead of the young sarcastic one.

Heero's hands were on his hips as he regarded Duo, "Get dressed."

Duo glared and considered the rock in his hand again. Heero arched a brow at him and gave him a long accessing look. Duo, befuddled, tried to ignore him and went back to the clothes on the bed. The material was fine, and soft. The chain mail was light and finely meshed and he wondered how something so delicate looking was supposed to protect him. He shifted, suddenly uncomfortable as he started to slip one arm from his sleeve. He winced and met Heero's eyes, the dark blue catching him again and made his chest do strange things. Heero smiled at him then and Duo stepped back, pressing into the bed's footboard.

"What? I don't your help to dress. You think I can't change by myself?" That brow arched again and Duo saw the smile teetering on ridicule and amusement before it became smug.

"Leave." Duo grumbled, flustered.

"No." Heero countered, now only steps away and leaning against the bed post. Heero watched Duo fumble with the under shirt, slip it over his head and then pull his other arm inside the shirt he was already wearing. He chuckled quietly to himself when Duo started cursing as he struggled to put on the undershirt while still wearing the first one.

"Is this really that amusing to you?!" Duo huffed, pulling the bigger shirt over his head and throwing it at Heero.

Heero caught it easily and draped it over his arm. "Yes," he replied simply with that same amused smile on his face. Heero looked Duo over again, and let his eyes linger, "It's…"

He paused purposefully waiting until Duo looked at him with the chain mail in his hand when their eyes met again, "Nothing I haven't seen before."

Duo's head tilted slightly in confusion and curiosity as he regarded Heero, and then followed Heero's eyes as they went down his body. Long before he got to the tails of his shirt he saw a green pants leg near Heero's foot and followed it to see the too big pants he'd been wearing were pooled around his ankles. Duo's face burned as he tugged at the hem of his shirt, trying to pull it down in front.

Heero chuckled and squatted before Duo who hopped back, landing half on the bed frame and banging his sore shoulder against the other bed post. Duo cursed and turned, his hand going to his side as he held onto the post.

Heero rose, his smile receding some at Duo's pain. He put the pants across his arm and arched a brow at Duo's back. "Be sure to be dressed when I return… and don't forget the underpants."

Duo fumed half turning and red in the face, "Bast- Ack!"

Duo jumped and pressed his throbbing side against the bedpost and exposed rear against the footboard. Duo watched Heero casually stroll by him with wide eyes as if Heero hadn't just slapped him across the butt.

"I'll be dressed alright." Duo muttered at Heero's back. He snatched up the underpants and gingerly leaned against the post as he slipped them on.

It wasn't long before Heero returned, the fire had dimmed and the room dark as he stepped in through the door that he knew only he could open. Heero's lips twitched upward before they settled back into a non-smile as he entered the seemingly empty room and tripped. Before he could catch himself an arm was around his neck and the tip of a blade pressed under his chin, forcing his head back. Heero tensed and then calmed himself when heard the labored breaths against his ear.

"Don't play with me."

Heero coolly stepped away when Duo let him go. He turned to face him, running a finger beneath his chin. He rubbed his fingers together and smirked at Duo who ignored him. Heero closed his eyes briefly, the wound already sealing itself.

"Good, you found the blade we left you." Amused cerulean blues that looked mercurial in the firelight watched as Duo dropped the blade into the calf-high boots. Heero arched a brow at the worn cloak Duo wore and swept at the back of heels when he walked.

Duo pretended Heero wasn't there and Heero smiled knowingly to himself.

"Fraix, ever sentimental," Heero said lowly with a shake of his head, "at least it's clean." Heero went to the hearth, held his hand palm up by his chin, and inhaled.

Duo watched from under his lashes curious about what Heero was doing. Duo blinked, eyes widening in amazement when a few moments later the fire blinked out. He was tempted to go over and study the hearth more closely. He'd seen fire tricks before and wielders were to be respected but this man, Duo made an airy huff, couldn't be one of the One's people. Heero had performed some sort of trick to make the fire go out. If Heero hadn't returned, the fire would make a wooden door open.

Heero went into his closet and out again putting on gloves that went up to the sleeves of his shirt. Heero looked at the thin man before him and Duo stared back, his satchel across his left shoulder so that it hung on his right side.

"You will be given a staff and perhaps another weapon to use for defense and if you do not know of them," He said smirking, walking out of the room and pleased that Duo followed, though somewhat stiffly. "We will be taking the Gua mounts." Heero stopped walking when Duo's footsteps grew silent. He looked back to Duo whose face was paler than it had been when he'd carried him from the bathing chamber.

"Sand Dragons." It was a mousy, hollow sound and Duo didn't recognize his own voice. "We'll be riding dragons!" Duo's blue violet eyes were filled with fear and excitement.

Heero smiled, walking over and taking Duo by the elbow to get him to start walking again. "Lizards," Heero corrected, leading him down stairwells and through corridors without protest. Heero smiled a little more. "Though calling them Dragons does lend them more mysticism."

Duo shook off Heero's hand. Heero walked past him and out the door. Duo followed him outside. Heero had brought him to the back of the palace-temple where the great wall seemed to connect to a small mountain range. The stars were brilliant in the night sky where hardly any of the lights from the temple commons or the townsfolk dimmed it. Duo's heart raced in his chest at the sight of it and his hopes overwhelmed his rational thought. He was here; at the mountains he could only glimpse the peaks of from the ground. He walked out into the middle of the plain where the rocky ridges on the ground began to rise and fall, then clump and stretch but there was something off. Low trilling chirps reached his ears and he turned back to see the door closed and to the left of it a low lit stable grotto. The odd sounds stopped and he saw Heero emerge from one opening, holding the reigns and rubbing the black snout of a yellow eyed Gua.

"Come, Duo," Duo stepped back. He realized then, that the mountains he was going to were to the east and they were at the back of the palace-temple, the west. He could see the tree tops over the wall as well as the overgrowth of vines and other leafy things from the garden he always heard about.

"Duo." Duo snapped out of his reverie, the others in Heero's company were already atop their horse size lizard mounts. _I can do this_, he encouraged himself mentally and reached out with a shaky hand to the take the reigns from Heero.

Duo glared at Heero when he left him. Duo watched as Heero grabbed the harness on the back of his mount, put one foot in the side strap and hopped atop his black collared dragon. A hot snort of air against the side of Duo's face made him start. He smiled nervously into the attentive eye that was almost as large as his hand. "Ok, you don't eat me and I promise you I'll find whatever treats they give you guys and sneak lots to you?"

Duo nodded to the lizard, smiling with all his teeth and tried to still his trembling hand as he rubbed the black snout, the lizard's tail was wagging almost like a dog's at his touch. He almost screamed when the long, forked and prickly but soft tongue licked the side of his face, ear and part of his eye twice before disappearing as quickly as it attacked. Duo groaned and a deep laugh came up behind him.

"Well, me boy, it looks like Newt approves of ye." Duo was wiping the side of his face off on his cloak when Fraix grabbed him by the back of it and his jerkin, nearly choking him, and lifted him up on his mount. Duo immediately grabbed onto the harness and rubbed his boots along the Gua's sides until he hooked his booted feet into the footrests.

Duo shivered eyeing the scaly skin that was soft to the touch and the two thick black bands that circled the low on its neck and just below its shoulders.

"That be it me boy." Duo saw Fraix's beard shift and knew he was smiling. "Cluck yer tongue once to get her going, she'll keep up with the rest, but if ye be needing her to slow down pat the right side of the harness twice. Cluck twice t'stop her. Newt be a good girl, if ye be needing t'rest, she'll not leave ye behind."

Before Duo could say anything, Fraix clucked his tongue and they were off, their lizard mounts effortlessly climbing over the mountainous formations and moving back east along the wall and toward the dunes.

tbc...

*Gua – Iguanas, the ones here are a cross between desert Iguanas and their relative the Collared Lizard.

AN: Thank you guys for reading ^_^ *hugs you all*


	6. Chapter VI

_Italics_ ~ thoughts  
Warnings: Duo torture, yaoi = MXM goodiness, hinting of Mpreg  
Pairings: 1x2 eventually, minor 3x4

AN: Long chapter … did some editing, bemoans the time when I used to have a beta… Oh how I miss thee!! *snickers* I do. .. Anyways you guys, ^_^ enjoy and thanks for reading.

Feedback - appreciated.

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I don't own any of the sexies in Gundam Wing AC, I just love to help them live a little.  
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VI

A long, low trilling chirp echoed and died quickly in the night. It was sorrow filled and beautiful. She shifted through her layered robe and brought one gloved hand up to rub along the ridge of Nue's ear. They stood side by side where the air at the entrance changed from warm to frosty. There seemed to be no in between, at least when the day slipped into night you have time to brace for the cold that came with it. But she already knew that. There didn't have to be an intermediary.

She eyed their surroundings and looked out across the dune sprinkled sea of sand, the wind kicking up a swirl of it to sparkle when it caught the moonlight just right. She followed Nue's line of sight when the great lizard's head snapped to the right and she could barely see the mouse running along a dune then disappearing into a small hole mere moments before something slithered past. _ Hiding_, she sighed quietly at the thought_, much like we're doing_. She wished she could have stayed longer, stayed ignorant of the truth. Or something more gradual, so she could have taken a few people she, now, greatly missed with them and not have the whole of Maheran on their tails. It made her wonder how many of their people made it to the mountains, ill equipped as they were, in their desperate flight away from the place they never thought they'd have to leave.

Lost in thought, she didn't see much of anything else but she knew there were other things about. She felt the vibrations of Nue's next low trill beneath her hand through his warm skin. It was a risk, letting the animals more dangerous than the snake hearing them, but the moon was high and Nue left with them, leaving his mate. Gua, as a species, were inseparable, bonded in a way she had hoped to be one day – life mates. Nue carried them with the knowledge that he may never return to his mate, Newt. She petted Nue, wishing they could have taken his mate. Two Guas would've gotten them farther a lot faster but two missing would've been noticed sooner than one. The Gua had motioned for them to go and she could only guess what they talked to Millardo about, which wasn't much. And Millardo wasn't trying to tell her anything more than what she already knew - that the Gua would hide the fact that Nue was gone by hiding his mate. It irked her that there was something more and the only person that could tell her was Nue since she knew her brother wouldn't.

Relena looked back at her brother, huddled in on him self and shaking, even with his heavy robes and the blanket. He had them moving at a grueling pace. They took turns sleeping and riding on Nue and they covered a greater distance than she had thought was possible. If they had brought the other Gua, they'd be days away from the mountains instead of two weeks. Her brother knew the desert and had found them this rocky enclave, a cave beneath a towering dune.

Relena stepped back from the entrance when dust billowed in the air above her head. Nue stretched his neck out so his head was directly under the next windy gust that brought a shower of sand with it. Nue's tail thumped the floor as he enjoyed the sand shower, dust pluming around his head and rolling off him to scatter and dust the cave floor with more sand. She retook her position by Nue once the wind died down, and brushed the red-brown remnants off of Nue's head. She hugged the faithful Gua then let him go with a pat before he could lick her face. They had come far. She had her suspicions about how they managed it and the three days they had spent here confirmed it for her – Millardo had been using his abilities until he became too weak to move. Her hand dropped to her side as Nue left her standing at the mouth of the enclave. Relena watched him nuzzle into the loose hair at the top of Millardo's head, which was close to the fire.

She sniffed the air, her eyes stretched at the smell; he was too close to the fire.

Nue licked Millardo across the forehead then and moved aside, seemingly content in watching Millardo's hair melt, bubble and pop. He settled down behind Millardo as he watched Relena through narrowed eyes. Nue pressed his body around Millardo's huddled form, so close that it looked as though he was cradling Millardo. Relena skidded on the sand-dusted floor and dropped to her knees, wincing when she felt the bite of the stone floor through her robes. She pulled Millardo's hair away the fire, started sweeping sand from the floor until it was covered in it and anxiously, she patted it, her lips puckered in a frowning pout and her eyes stinging from the smell. She sent a glare Nue's way when she heard the Gua make a half nasally trill that could've been derisive or as close to a human sounding laugh she's ever heard them make. She had a feeling it was both.

It made her think and sadly enough she realized she been neglecting her brother. He'd made sure she slept, ate, and well covered. She hadn't noticed anything different. He was always strong like she remembered except for what had happen in the garden with Treize. Relena's brow furrowed in thought, she hadn't seen how careless he was being with himself but she could sense it. She looked at the now dirty, frayed end of Millardo's hair and was thankful that she… she glanced at Nue whose eyes were watched her knowingly and it made her wonder if he could read her thoughts. A small, contrite smile curved her lips and she was thankful that _Nue_ had noticed and in turn, got her to notice in time before Millardo had no hair at all.

Relena shook her wrist to dislodge a dagger from her sleeve. She took a deep breath, glanced nervously at her brother who hadn't moved the entire time she was trying to save his hair. His hair was nearly as long as hers and she wondered how much of it had been his choice that it had grown so long. She picked up the damaged handful and severed the burnt end quickly with a wince. She tossed it into the furthest corner of the fire away from them. She made a face when she heard it popping in the fire and rushed over to shift the stones over it.

Relena sighed, her hand slipping into her sleeve and replacing the dagger in its holster. She looked to Nue beneath lowered lashes, a light flush staining her cheeks, "Thanks Nue. I agree, I can't be letting myself get so distracted. We're in this together." She nodded her head and Nue blinked, yawning hugely and closing his eyes like he didn't know what she was talking about.

Relena sat on the sandy floor and scooted back until she could lay her head on top of Nue's snout.

Nue snorted his briny, moist breath in her face and nudged her with one scaly knuckle.

"No." She grumbled, faking a tired voice.

Nue nudge her again, took a deep breath and blew it into Relena's face.

"Mm, Nue, you don't have to do anything extra. I'm warm enough, thank you." Relena said with a smile against her arm and snuggled up closer to his snout.

Nue snorted, without as much air this time as if saying 'yea right.' Nue shook his head, not giving up.

Relena propped her chin on her crossed arms. She smirked and gazed into Nue's intelligent gold and brown flicked eyes, "Tell me what you and all the Gua know about my brother and aren't telling me?" She arched a brow and pouted more towards herself than to make any impression on Nue. Perhaps she was a little possessive of her brother.

"Ok a lot." She whispered to herself, glancing at him then back at Nue. _ I just got you back_, and she was determined to never lose him again.

She stared long and hard at Nue. Nue stared back unblinkingly. Her eyes started to itch but she stared on even though large, but wise lizard eyes said nothing to her. She blinked, her eyes watering as she exhaled heavily in frustration and then sat up.

She couldn't talk to animals.

Having a staring contest with Nue wasn't getting her anywhere and she knew no more about Millardo's condition then she had before. But she was aware of things now. She looked into the fire, something she often did. Relena reached over and turned one spitted rabbit.

"I could just touch him," she suggested to Nue with none of the pettiness while looking down at her open fingered gloved hand. She glanced at Nue who looked back at her calmly, his eyes attentive but showing little interest in what she did, or said at the moment. Nue trusted her enough to not do something so invasive like that to her brother. _ But can I trust myself?_ She looked at her brother, really looked at him since they fled Maheran, his cheeks were gaunt, his skin looked clammy, and it didn't seem like he could get warm enough. She knew only faint lines of the shackle scars on his wrists remained but he wouldn't let her touch his bare skin.

It stung that someone… that her brother didn't _want_ to be healed by her or touched by her. She wanted to know what had happen to him to make him not want to be touched. She wanted to know what he was hiding, but she could tell it pained him to talk about it. So she'd wait until he was ready, since her ability couldn't heal the nonphysical. She was starting to accept that even though she still wanted to try.

Relena sighed, stretched and fell to the side and back onto Nue's nose. Nue chirped in annoyance and swatted her with his hand mindful to keep his claws retracted. Relena laughed, then quieted remembering her sleeping brother. She smiled shamefacedly at her brother who looked up at her with an odd smile.

Millardo sat up, lying back against Nue. He let his head rest on Nue's back and closed his eyes.

Relena watched the lines that creased his face while he slept fretfully fade as he allowed himself to be lost in memory. Her smile fell and she picked up the knife she'd used on the rabbits to poke at the debris in the fire and not stare at her brother. She pressed her lips together firmly, _ I will not pry. I will not pry._ She repeated to herself, stabbing at the charred remnants at the bottom of the fire pit.

Millardo's head lolled toward her and he gave her a small, tired smirk. "I - I hadn't realized how much I missed hearing you laugh." He said after a while.

"If I could, I'd-"

"No." Relena turned to him, stunned at the finality and strength in the quiet refusal. He stared at her, their eyes locked. "Don't you _ever_ say that again! Even if it was possible, I'd never want y-you…" Millardo bit his lip and Relena sorely wished she'd kept her mouth shut.

Millardo blinked several times and smiled again at her. "I'd go through it…" his smile wavered but never left his face, "through it all again to see you as well as you are. To see you smile little sister. I-"

Relena swiped away the warm trails flowing down her face and watched, curiously, her brother's nose wrinkle up. It was cute actually. The next moment she saw the color drain from his face.

"What's that smell?" he asked, smile becoming more of a frown.

Relena blushed and pointed to the uneven lock of hair she'd cut. He looked at the hair resting over his shoulder, both brows cocked.

"Umm, you got too close to the fire." She regretfully muttered.

Millardo gave her a wobbly smile at that, "Oh well, it needs to be cut. And that?" He pointed to the three dark, skewered shapes roasting over the flames.

"Rabbit. Nue and I are great hunters." Millardo tried smiling at her boast but it came out looking queasy. She didn't notice, making quick work of one rabbit by cutting it into strips and laying them on several hand-sized stones close to the fire. "We might as well ration our supplies. We don't know how long this journey will take. Salted jerky can be made into lots of things."

Millardo looked at her with pride in his eyes, "I hadn't meant to sleep that long. I wish you'd woken me." He ran his hand through his hair and smiled at her, this time the smile was stronger, "And who did you learn this from?"

"Heero. Did you know his clan was originally nomadic?" she queried excitedly, "that they were involved in the first civil dispute between our people-" she glanced at her brother, he was looking out toward the entrance his expression grim. Relena sighed and worked on another rabbit. She picked up a piece of meat from the heated stones using the tip of the blade and offered it to Millardo.

Millardo pushed it away quickly, one hand flying to his mouth as he swallowed against his hand. He shook his head, "No you go ahead."

"But you haven't eaten at all today!" She walked on her knees over to him and he turned his back to her when he saw the roasted brown morsel dripping between her fingertips.

"Relena, I-I… I'm fine. I eat."

Relena shook her head then stopped, knowing the affect was lost since he wasn't looking her way. "No, you don't. I can tell and you're not even trying now."

"Relena-" he tried to turn to her and will away the queasiness but the smell was too strong to him and just seeing it that close had him heaving, his shoulders jerking.

"Ok, maybe you do since you haven't passed out or anything but barely enough for all we burn off out here." She sighed heavily, sitting on her knees behind him and putting her forehead to his robed back and escaping hair. "It's been little over a week… no almost two weeks and you eat like a bird. I'm so worried about you. Please eat-"

Nue knocked her aside and Millardo scrambled to his feet, body heaving as he stumbled out of their shelter.

"Millie!" She ran to the mouth of the cave and saw Millardo running, slipping and sliding down the dune and then around another one before she heard the sounds of him retching.

_He's sick. _Her mouth dropped open as the thought repeated itself. Relena flinched at Nue's narrowed eye regard of her then laid his head down with a roll of his eyes. _He's sick and it's bad. That's why he didn't want me to heal him. That's why he's pushing us extra hard to get there… he doesn't think… he doesn't th-think he'll make - I'm so stupid! _ She ran, her boots coasting over the sand dusted floor and nearly crashed into a wall as she scooped up a water gourd.

"Millie!" She ran down the hill, shaky and a little queasy herself as she tried not to think about it. _He'll get better. He'll get better._ She thought repeatedly, so frantic was she that she couldn't catch herself when she tripped on her robes and fell on her chin, sliding the rest of the way down. The sudden pain blotted out her fears. She groaned, her mind quiet, her jaw aching as she growled and slammed the bottom of the gourd onto the cold sand. _This cannot be happening! _ She grabbed at her robes, slipped and sloshed through the sand until she was at his side.

"Millie," she called to him again, her chin quivering though her voice was strong. She wouldn't allow it, _I can heal him and together we'll start our families in the mountains where we'd be safe. Our families can grow and be strong again. N-no one would have to die. _She swallowed, shaking her head as if it would stop the images and words she was thinking. _I won't have to be alone._

Millardo heard his childhood name, the name the little ones had called him sometimes because Relena had called him that often. He slouched backward, sitting heavily on his knees with the back of his hand pressed against his mouth before he pressed it to the hard but still small curve to his stomach beneath his robes. His other hand shook against the sand. He coughed and frowned at the sand beneath his hand. It was getting harder for him to focus and shift the sand. _Too much_, he thought. He was so tired all the time because he used his ability so much in this sea, but it was worth it if it shortened the time it would take for them to get to the mountains. He had to get them there, _And maybe they can save it_. Relena was still young and he didn't want to leave her with such a responsibility on top of … him not making it. He knew there was something wrong and how fast it was growing scared him.

_I won't_ … He dismissed the thought and tried focusing again on the sand. The sand was varied, powdery and fluid like water – not as cohesive or as solid as earth. His brow furrowed, sweat trickled down his nose and the sand shifted until it swallowed down the water and fruit he'd tried to hold in his stomach deep into itself. He swayed but slid his hand behind him, panting and mindless of the sands' cold stinging bite or the shivers that slowly took over his limbs, to keep himself upright.

Relena crumpled to her knees and slid toward him, the gourd falling from her hands to settle against the side of his leg.

"Mil-" She stopped, biting her lip.

Millardo closed his eyes in response to her half-formed question. Relena shuffled over on her knees until she pressed up against his side, the both of them holding each other up as their breath made clouds in the clear night sky.

"I'm sorry." Relena's apology drifted up to his ears, this time she stopped him from speaking with a kiss to his clammy cheek.

He looked into her shimmering eyes in the moonlight and stayed quiet, his sister was as beautiful as the eunuchs and all the kingdoms' whispered rumors said she was. He would protect her for as long as he could hold out, _Until the mountains_.

"I will look after you just as you have me. I will pay attention! I promise!" She grabbed his bare hand quickly and held it in both of hers.

Wide-eyed, Millardo tried to pull away, but she held his hand firmly in hers and shook her head. "I won't. Unless you ask me, I won't. You shouldn't keep using your ability here. We are far enough away. There are no wind wielders among them. We'll make it there at a slower pace and we'll do it together."

Millardo nodded feeling, oddly, more sure of everything. He hadn't realized how alone in all of this he'd felt until now or how it felt that Relena was just along for the ride. He looked at their joined hands in his lap and how close they were to his stomach. Moving one's element was like breathing. It was always there, took little effort to employ and never hurt its wielder. Even though sand was another form of terrain and a second nature to him, it worked best with wind wielders. He'd trained to learn how to move it but he'd never used it this much before.

Millardo resisted the urge to rub the swell and squeezed Relena's hand instead. He was worried how it would be affected and at the same time he didn't want to know. He didn't want to bare it. If he hadn't been suppressed, he wouldn't have had too.

Relena caught his forlorn expression as he stared down at their hands. She ran her thumb over the three squiggly lines the size of her thumb on fleshy part of Millardo's hand between his thumb and index finger. It was the same birthmark that she had over her left breast, but the color was off. It wasn't the usual light tan-blue, the ring around it was, but the mark itself was a shade of brown. She rubbed it once more before hugging him. He wrapped her up in his arms and hugged her back, pulling her hood over her head when the wind blew hard at them. She smiled up at him, rising and doing the same with his hood before she helped him to his feet. They held onto each other as the wind picked up and the sand shifted beneath their feet.

The wind blew a cloud of sand off the dune toward the siblings' back. It swished and twirled toward them to stop fingers away from Millardo's hooded head. It twisted its way back to the dune in reverse and rejoined the rest of the sand there. A gloved hand slid along the side of the dune and its fingers shifting then running through the sand and causing more of it to slide down the dune's side. The siblings slipped, feet sinking into the sand as the fingers pressed deeper into the mound with their every step. A hooded head joined the gloved hand, resting against the hand then the side of the dune. The sand that slipped between gloved fingers slowed at the same time Millardo and Relena found it easier to lift their feet. The hooded figure swirled a finger in the sand, the displaced sand shifted but remained, frozen in place.

The siblings made it back to the enclave unaware of him or the lack of loose sand on their trek up the dunes' usually slippery slope.

O-----------------------OoO----------------------O

Heero sighed, seven days out in the wilds, normally they'd ride for two days nonstop then set up camp and he had tried. The first night Duo's mount said something to the other Gua. It was a strange thing to hear the Gua, often silent when they rode them, trill low to each other. He knew Duo must have done something because of that they had to set up camp when none of the Gua would move. They'd made up for the lost time the next day but then in the middle of the trek on the sixth day, Duo had fallen off his mount and his mount sat down beside him, shielding him from the sun but refusing to move.

Ethan had approached her and she turned away from him, stretching out as if she was going to take a nap in the blistering noonday sun. The heat during the day outside of Maheran was something Heero was familiar with, just as his men were. Yet Duo, like many ofl the inhabitants of Maheran who didn't travel, had never experienced it before. Heero had allowed as many concessions he could as far as Duo was concerned. They had to keep going.

Fraix had gone over as well and no amount of coaxing could get Newt to rise with Duo drooping on her back.

Finally, Heero went over after Fraix had gotten Duo to drink from the water gourd. Heero watched the older man wrap the bit of twain that held it, to Duo's arm. Heero looked into Duo's dazed hooded face, it was clear that he wasn't doing any of it on purpose but he couldn't help his scowl when Duo's dazed look was replaced with a glare at the sight of him. Duo patted Newt and she rose with a glaring Duo on her back but easily kept pace with the others. It seemed he was the only one that could get her to cooperate if Duo wasn't talking to her.

This was the twelfth night, they were walking beside their mounts and this night it was warm enough for them to keep going well into the morning. Duo, surprisingly, was keeping up with them with his mount beside him with no incident. The moon had crested on several high dunes and they settled on the lee side of one dune that hid a sparse copse and grassy plateau. Tamien and Pib made a small fire and Ethan scouted the surrounding area while they settled in. Heero leaned against his mount, Krídlo, his boots crossed at the ankles. Watching the fire grow the more it was fed, he closed his eyes, resting. He opened them moments later to see Duo walking away from camp.

"Duo," Duo peered at Heero over his shoulder, making sure Heero could see that he was copying his blank expression and non-smile.

Heero arched a brow, his face remained unchanged though his eyes hid none of his mirth as he noted too that the royal insignia had been scraped off the back of Duo's boots. "It wouldn't be wise to go far. We make it a habit of telling each other where we're going and for what purpose. So if-"

"If your arse ain't back here you'll know where to find their dead body or gear cuz there'll be buzzards pecking at their asses. Yadda yadda yadda! I'm not a child, Heero. You don't have to tell me the same thing every time we make camp." Duo turned to face Heero with his hand on one hip, he glared unable to keep mocking Heero or keep the emotion out of his voice.

"Then you should-"

"That way!" Tired of hearing him talk, Duo pointed to some place behind him, "To take a leak and shit if I have to!" Duo smiled, sardonically, showing all his teeth, the sweat beading on his forehead hidden by his long bangs.

Heero snorted his face blank though his eyes suggested he found it just as humorous as had his snickering men. Heero nodded and gestured with his hand, "Then, take Newt with you."

"No." Duo smirked, pivoted on his heels and marched off in the opposite direction of where he pointed.

Heero allowed a bit of the smirk he was fending off to show. It slipped from his face, into his common non-smile when he sensed someone approaching.

"It's clear, Captain." Ethan said, his tone dripping with contempt even though he bowed low in passing and made his way over to the fire where he was handed a bowl of gruel.

Fraix left the ladle in the pot after giving Ethan another spoon full and headed toward Heero. Distracted, Fraix looked off to where the longed haired young man lumbered off too before he stopped next to Heero. Fraix patted Krídlo across her snout and crossed his arms over his barrel chest, his long beard lower than usual on his face.

Heero popped open an eye and considered Fraix's brooding countenance.

"That one be not eating."

Heero arched a brow, the corners of his mouth curling downward slightly. He looked away, both eyes open and staring toward the fire and seeing Ethan helping himself to another bowl from the pot on the firestones. "How long?" He asked quietly in a flat voice.

"All of two days, me thinks. Me boy ain't touch his rations and be not accepting of the food I be making either." Fraix shook his head.

Heero copied the motion unknowingly, "Did he let you check his wound?" Heero scowled into the fire without looking and Fraix's beard dropped lower over the big man's arms, if that were possible. He didn't need to hear Fraix say it to know that he hadn't. That Duo hadn't let anyone check it. _ Why would he_, Heero couldn't fault Duo for not trusting them or him for that matter.

"Aye, me boy!" Heero listened to Fraix mask the concern in his voice with half-hearted cheery greeting as Duo came back to camp from the opposite side of where he'd left. Duo didn't acknowledge the older man and went straight to where Newt rested.

Fraix picked up a bowl, slopped some gruel in it and held it out to Duo as invitingly as a big grouchy black bear might seem by the fire. Even though Heero could see the humor in it, this was not a laughing matter. Duo was putting on much needed weight with regular meals though they were not overly large ones. For Duo to stop eating out here where he needed the food the most was dangerous.

Ethan watched Fraix, ever solicitous of them, go out of his way to ensure that Heero's favored ate and he felt conflicted. On one hand, he felt Duo was undeserving of such attention and on the other, he was glad he was with them. He sneered down into his bowl, wanting to draw Fraix away from Duo but he kept quiet when Tamien nudged him with a dagger.

Duo looked at Fraix and offered him a wane smile then a quick shake of his head. Duo turned away from the older man and petted along Newt's flank, soothing marks left from the harness straps with shaky hands.

Fraix lowered his arm, bowl still in hand, when Heero snatched it from him and marched over to Duo.

"Duo." Duo didn't move. Newt watched them but all Duo did was stand there and stroke her neck to back.

"Duo." Heero grabbed Duo's arm and turned him around.

Duo winced, staring at Heero with wide dazed eyes.

Heero kept his face blank when Duo continued to look at him as if he wasn't there. "Duo, what's wrong with you?"

Duo's eyes slowly focused. Heero saw the recognition that came to them as he stared into the murky violets and blanked his face the moment the quizzical look gave way to scorn. Heero scowled no longer capable of reining in his frustration, especially when he had to deal with Duo in this state. The little bit of hope that kept creeping in hurt the worst. Every time he thought that maybe Duo would remember him only to have that thought be painfully sliced out when he did come to himself.

Duo yanked his arm out of Heero's grip with a glare, "Don't touch me."

Duo disliked Heero being so familiar with his name, calling it with such ease. It got under his skin. He wouldn't allow him to become familiar with anything else if he could help it.

Heero rolled his eyes, the unoccupied hand at his side balling into a fist hidden from view by his robes. "I wouldn't have to if you would stop dreaming. Here." Heero held out the bowl to him and Duo took a step back, tripping on his own foot when his body responded with a sluggish drag.

"Duo-" Newt's alarmed trill interrupted whatever else Heero might have said and brought his attention to her, where she lay near Duo's feet. There was a large dark smear in the powdery dirt around Duo's boot. Heero started to comment about Duo stepping in animal dung when the smear grew, pooled and became a little puddle in the scuffed up area left from Duo's left boot.

Heero reached for him and Duo slapped Heero's hand away, causing it to knock the bowl of gruel out of Heero's other hand and onto the ground. Heero growled and Duo stared at the bowl without blinking.

Duo gasped the next moment when the fog cluttering his thoughts lifted and he felt Heero's hand on the back of his neck. He grabbed at Heero's arms but couldn't stop the messy haired man from forcing him down onto his knees. Duo grimaced and groaned at the wave of heat that washed over him and the gray fog encroaching on his mind, making it harder for him to breathe.

He looked to Heero from beneath his lashes, not understanding why the man was bothering him. He thought back to his comments earlier and wondered if his jibes had caused the usually immovable man to act against him. Duo didn't like the position he was in and he wasn't going to let Heero do whatever he wanted. He struck out at Heero and Heero caught his fist in his hand, twisting and pulling on Duo's tender shoulder as he locked Duo's arm up by his shoulder blades.

"Let go of me!" Duo yelled, cursing and wincing at the strain on his shoulder and the throbbing heat in his lower back. Duo saw Fraix approaching them and remembered the odd calm that wasn't his own; he didn't want that to happen again. He didn't want Fraix anywhere near him. He jerked backward, forgetting his pains as his hysteria grew. Duo jerked backwards harder, surprising Heero and nearly made him lose his hold on him.

"Fraix," Duo heard Heero grit out and saw Fraix stop steps away from them, "get me clean dressings and water now." Duo heard Heero's heated command while the man struggled to hold him in place.

Duo managed to get a foot under him and he kicked out at Heero, catching him across the shin before his eyes grew heavy and his body started relaxing against his will. He breathed in sharply and lost control of it when it exited. The fog in his mind was replaced by a calming blanket, spreading over the whole of him from where Heero held his neck.

"No…" He gasped, trying to shake Heero off when he landed half on top of him, Heero's hand still holding onto him.

"You left me no options being so damned difficult." Heero grunted out, the numbing calm brought Duo's struggles down to jerks.

_No! No! _Duo screamed inside his head when his voice didn't work and all too soon his mind became sluggish. He fell forward into Newt when he lost control over his muscles. Newt caught him and stopped him from kissing the dirt, her large hand spanning from the top of his head to the bend of his elbow. He trembled trying to get some part of him to move, kick or hit Heero but all he managed was uncoordinated twitches.

Duo panted his face outwardly calm and his eyes watery slits as he lay there unable to do anything except make the slightest of sounds. He felt the pressure on his neck ease until just the fingers remained, brushing against his sweaty skin and hair before leaving and tugging on his robes and jerkin.

"You are such and idiot. I should have never let go of your hand." He heard the rueful whisper by his ear and saw Heero draw back.

Duo groaned, he found that was all he could do to protest, the whole of him was content with lying in Newt's hand and letting Heero do whatever he willed. He groaned again when the robes settled high on his shoulders and his shirt stuck to him on one side. He didn't want Heero to touch him anymore. He drifted the cool night air whispered across his skin and he could almost hear words. He wanted to tell them his wishes and not have to deal with this anymore. Duo opened his eyes a little wider when he heard Heero hiss as he settled on his knee beside him and Newt. He saw booted feet come and go and felt himself drift again in the heat.

Heero nodded his thanks while Fraix set water, a jar of healing salve and clean dressings on as pallet beside him. Heero looked to Newt, wondering if the great lizard was uncomfortable. Newt looked back at him, intelligent eyes assessing him for a long moment before laying her head down across her arm. She lipped the top of Duo's head, nuzzling into his hair before she settled, eyeing Heero again briefly then closing her eyes. Her movement suggesting she was fine and staying where she was.

Heero smiled, and then frowned at the dark, wet stain in Duo's undershirt. He pulled away the shirt, the smell of infection filling his nose from Duo's bloody dressings. A dagger glinted in his peripheral vision, he reached up and took the hilt and Tamien stepped back. The hilt was warm and the blade proved to be hotter as he cut through the dirty dressings with the hissing blade without much effort. He saw – though the word seemed inadequate in describing Tamien's movements – the silent blade master was at his side again to take the blade and give another heated one. Heero realized that he was sensing Tamien's presence and not his physical actions. The man was skilled in making himself invisible and did so again without any effort when he left his side.

Pib ignored everyone and prepared to go to sleep while Fraix put away their supplies.

Ethan was pretending to help Fraix but his eyes were watching them more often than not.

Heero put Ethan's nervous eyes out of his mind and focused on Duo. The firelight was high enough that Heero could see the long scar, mostly healed, that started in the middle of Duo's back and ended in inflamed scar tissue, broken sutures and a leaking scab. He sat across the back of Duo's thighs and scowled at it, using the blade he got from Tamien to reopen the wound. He felt Duo shuddered beneath him as he cut away a purplish piece of skin that seem more scab then something natural with odd dark patches and spiky edges. He squinted looking down at it on the blade, _ Hair?_

He heard an indrawn breath as he ran his finger over one of the spiky edges of the scab and arched a brow as it sparked dully at his touch. Heero looked from to scab to Duo's bleeding wound in shock.

"A spore?" He heard Ethan whisper confirming Heero's own thoughts and found the man standing beside him, looking confused as if he knew not what he said.

The bathing chamber's lichen or glow fuzz lived closest to the recessed holes or pooling places. They served as water purifiers, cleaning the water in the chamber after people were done bathing. They even served as sponges for those wanting a good scrub but those were usually the dimmest coarse balls of watery fluff because they were too old to spore.

Heero glanced over to Duo, who was still panting and moving more than he had minutes before. Wisps of Duo's bangs were sticking to his sweaty forehead and his face held the red flush of fever. Heero was impressed that the strong willed urchin was fighting off the infection as well as resisting him. Keeping that in mind, he knew he didn't have much time if he was going to do this.

Ethan leaned over him and Heero pushed him back, taking several pieces of thick cloth as Tamien took away the soiled ones and laid them down by Duo's bloody side.

"He didn't scream?" Ethan looked at Duo with a puzzled frown on his face, getting closer when he saw that Duo's eyes were open.

"He will." Ethan looked to Heero in question and Heero ignored him again as he propped Duo's right hip up by balling up Duo's ragged cloak and packing it beneath it. "Make sure he doesn't swallow his tongue."

Ethan looked at him, lost. "What?"

Heero said nothing more. He began pressing lightly around the deep wound, making Duo twitch at each touch.

"Um?" Ethan looked down at Duo's pinched face, and back at Heero when he stopped touching and started pressing down on the swollen wound, making it bleed more than it already was. Ethan fidgeted in place, trying to figure out what he could use. Ethan saw Duo's eyes grow wide and water as Heero added more pressure and his mouth open. He didn't want to hear it. He just couldn't. He squeezed his eyes shut and pulled on the thick sleeve of his robe so that it covered his hand and shoved it in Duo's mouth. Duo screamed and Ethan shook, covering one ear even though the sound was muffled and Duo bit him. He couldn't bear to hear it.

Heero blocked out the hammering of his own heart and continued to press down on the wound, forcing infected blood out along with bloody clumps that sparked over his hand and onto the cloths. Soon the blood ran freely and Heero made himself stay detached even as he took in Duo's sweaty, shivering body and pasty pallor. The blood had been free of the bloody clumps for a while now and Heero didn't want to risk bleeding Duo any longer. He began cleaning the wound, pressing down on it lightly and decided against re-sowing it.

Ethan slumped back on his legs and pulled his hand to his lap, the spit covered sleeve sliding up his arm. He sat there and watched as Heero spread healing salve over the wound carefully and pressed down on it with a clean cloth. His eyes flicked to Duo whose eyes were open slivers and his lashes thicken by the tears collecting over his eyes. He frowned at the stirring in his chest and went back to watching Heero who'd reopen the scrape higher on Duo's back, cleaned it with the water, put salve on it before putting on the dressing. Suddenly, Ethan was more than a little envious. He averted his eyes from the two and pushed away the odd familiarity he felt at seeing them together. He frowned, it didn't make him as angry as it had in the beginning the more he saw them the more it seemed okay… felt right. And what confused him more was that he'd tried to protect Duo from Senjit.

"Captain," Ethan spoke somewhat hesitantly, "am I needed further, Sir?"

Heero didn't respond and Ethan sank further into his robes. Ethan looked to Heero in askance and Heero nodded. Ethan stood up, grabbing the bowl and briskly making his way over to his equipment.

"Thanks." Ethan froze in place for a moment surprised and elated by Heero's gratitude. Ethan nodded to him as Fraix walked past with another bowl of gruel.

Fraix helped strip Duo of his soiled shirt and the jerkin was wiped as clean as it could be, before he was redressed. Heero had considered putting the chain mail on Duo but it would be too cumbersome when changing the dressing. Heero waved Fraix off when he inquired about his leg and he winced after sitting on his bruised shin for so long. He touched the back of Duo's neck briefly, holding the bowl in his lap and calmly waited.

Duo twitched, his eyes opened wide the next instant as heat, far greater than that of the fever, spread from his neck and down his back. To every place Heero's hands had touched him and he shuddered at the tightness in his pants. He glared at Heero over his shoulder, looked in surprised confusion at Newt who still held him. She cracked open an eye and rolled it at the expression on his face. Duo forced his arms to hold him as he pushed up and out of her hand a little too quickly, the sight of her large eye rolling in its socket so easily unnerved him more than a little. The wound at his back was blissfully numb so Newt holding him to her flank didn't hurt when he tried to move away. He sat down in the dirt, baffled by the Gua's possessiveness and embarrassed by the heat settling in his lower back and thighs. He wasn't sure if the heat of his blush could be seen with the heat already in his face from the fever. But he was thankful that her large hand covered and effectively hid his lower half.

Then there was something in front of his face. Duo blinked, owlishly at the gruel filled spoon that came into focus. He cocked his head, giving the wielder of the spoon an incredulous look. Heero gestured with the spoon toward his mouth and Duo pressed his lips into a thin line, or at least tried to but his lips were too generous to be compressed. He glared when Heero smirked at him, confident in thin-lipped glare.

_It was not too late then_, Heero thought and almost laughed at the menacing pout Duo was giving him. Heero waited and Duo started to nod off, ignoring the food.

"Duo." Duo jerked up and gave Heero a blurry glare. "Eat." Duo ignored him for the most part but this time when the spoon came to his mouth, it opened of its own volition.

Heero smirked and proceeded to feed him. He allowed his men to rest, mostly on Duo's behalf.

They broke camp and set off on their search again the next evening.

"Heero." The black stone on Heero's shoulder pulsed with Fraix's voice. He waited, when nothing more came, he patted the right side of the harness twice and Krídlo slowed to a trot.

_Was it too much to ask that we get two full days in before anything else happened? _ Heero thought with a irritated sigh, pulling on the harness so that Krídlo turned about. All the other Gua saw the change in his mount's movement and slowed to match her trot. Heero's brow twitched, _not even a full night's worth of travel. _ Heero had his men setoff again in the last waning hours of lights, moving on their swift footed Gua across the sloshing sand with ease. It was almost as if they were chasing the last rays of light into the horizon. He adjusted his face guard to peer back at his second when Krídlo suddenly turned about to face the other Gua as they came closer to her.

Heero rubbed her neck and felt like rubbing his own, the sudden turn upsetting a crick in his neck that wasn't helping his already irksome mood. Heero felt a vein in his forehead pulse when the Gua's quiet trills reached his ears. _Duo!_ Heero was really starting to regret bringing the street urchin along. The last time the Gua trilled like this, they had to set up camp because they wouldn't move. Heero's brows unfurled as he took several calming breaths and the muscles in his face relaxed. No matter how fast Duo could adapt to a situation he could only do so if he was at least healthy. He cursed Senjit silently and glared at Ethan, his piercing blue eyes were barely visible in the darkening night and whipping wind. Heero caught sight of Fraix who was looking behind them. Heero followed the older man's concerned gaze and found that Duo's Gua was farther behind him then he'd sensed, in a slow trot with her rider hugging her about the neck.

Heero wondered how he could have ended up with two troublesome people. Heero had allowed one day of rest and announced that they'd travel at night starting this night. He snorted in frustration and looked to Duo's mount, considering his options. Heero didn't need anyone else to find her and for that to happen they'd had to move. It would be troublesome if Khushrenada came upon her, and at least if Heero could get to her first he could cover for her little excursion. Heero grabbed a hold of his harness just as his mount bucked and he rubbed along her ear, and noticed she was looking up. All the Gua were looking up. He joined them and his brows immediately furrowed as he looked around, everything was darker than before.

"There are no stars, Heero." Tamien's voice came across the stone.

"The sky is red!" Came Ethan's alarmed cry over the stone immediately after.

"Ethan." Heero said scold and that seemed to ground the other man. It was the multicolored hues one would normally see at sunset, they were too far into the night for that to be possible. He studied the deep red clouds amassing in the moonlit and nearly cloudless sky. He gritted his teeth, they had heard of sandstorms but never had they been in the path of one before, "Stop looking at the sky and see-"

"You hear that… Whoa?!" Heero whipped around at the awe and fear he heard in Duo's voice over the stone. Duo got off his Gua, stumbled and stood beside her, ignoring her as she nudged at him. "It's going right up into the sky."

"Look at that fool."

Heero growled, before Duo was a roiling wall of clouds, full of great dark red billowing puffs varying in size and spreading. "Duo, you idiot! Get on your mount and run!"

Duo didn't respond. Heero watched as Duo fell to his knees, his arm pressed tight to his left side and stared up, into the approaching mass. _ Damn it!_ He had hoped the fever wouldn't impair his common sense, Duo had been the same smart mouth little urchin he always was and so he thought they'd caught it in time. Tamien had changed the dressing before they started their search again and told him that the inflamed swelling had gone down and the wound still clean of spores.

_We are here…come._

Heero stiffened; his men looked around curiously with weapons in hand. They all heard a voice that seemed to come from everywhere at once. "Go south to try and get around it," he turned to his men, his eyes aglow bringing back their attention to their current situation. "The wind is carrying the storm northeast."

"Leave him." Pib shouted over the wind, his voice muffled by his face wrap.

"No, he's part of this company. I leave no one!" Heero clucked his tongue and Krídlo rose on her hind legs and ran against the wind. Heero could see four other blurs on either side of him and he smirked beneath his face wrap. Despite their differences, his men were loyal to him. They were loosing visibility and fast, he could barely make out Duo and Newt in her defensive crouch in front of him. They weren't going to making it, two more strides and then he saw nothing.

He pulled his face guard up over his eyes, holding on to his harness and trusting in his mount to take him to the other Gua. He could hear the other mounts laboring against the wind like Krídlo but he urged her on even though it seemed like he didn't have to. The ground shook and shifted beneath them. Normally a person couldn't see anything in this but Heero could. It was best that only he could, the sand shifted - like he thought a sea would - crashing into itself and falling into great crevices that closed as soon as they opened. The Gua continued on without difficulty as if it was a normal occurrence. He never heard of the sea moving like this but then again there were few survivors of a sandstorm. He had little doubt that any of his men had been in one before. He knew this was the power of the One's people. Immense power, spread out among them that they never used to harm others was hard to believe. A truly beautiful people brought down because they weren't cautious enough; didn't hide well enough from those who desired that power more than anything else. They became objects in their eyes, things to be used and abused, and now bred like livestock because they'd screwed up along the way and killed too many.

A muscle in his jaw twitched and he clenched his teeth, _the prophecy_. He wanted to spit at the very thought of it. He wouldn't let Duo be a part of it, even if he couldn't keep himself out of it.

_I won't lose you again_. The boundary disappeared around Heero's pupils and blue flooded the white of his eye. Heero's eyes glowed even through the veil, the whole of him looking the part of a dark and deadly specter in flowing robes. He winced and shuddered finding Duo too quickly with his eyes and enduring the sharp pain to sort through all that he saw to find Duo, who was moving but not on his own. He frowned, seeing other shapes in similar positions like Duo.

_They know I can see_. He was not surprised. He scowled and saw one of his men caught in a swirl of sand and then disappear between two moving dunes before he could reach them over the stone. He could no longer sense him, his mount resurfacing several feet away from the pall dune and in the opposite direction. It seemed that they had learned, these survivors, of whom and what their enemy was and this time they were ready to fight – even kill.

One of Heero's eyes closed and then the other to a narrow slit, even with the face guard in place, the dust from the sand and other fine grit got through the guard and to his eyes. He closed that eye, his face relaxed in concentration as Krídlo jerked around beneath him but kept moving. He didn't need to see to know where Duo was because he could feel him. He could feel them, the One's people, what was left was here in this vast and seemingly dead place. That was one thing Jirrad never knew he could do. And then there was Duo, so different from all of them except two… three, but that last presence flickered in and out of his senses.

Heero wrapped his arms firmly around Krídlo's neck and clucked in her ear three times, she crouched lowly on her hind legs and propelled them into the sky. It was the closest Gua ever came to their ancestors who could fly.

They flew through the air and landed hard, Krídlo nearly rolled on top of him but he didn't let go of her and she didn't crush him. They jumped again and Krídlo twisted and they were pushed backward. She clawed past the force he couldn't see and pushed onward. Warmth swelled in his chest and Heero opened his eyes to find Duo opposite him and his Gua beside him watching the swirling mass around them worriedly. Heero could understand why, there was no sand flying at them where they stood.

The area was calm, Heero could even see by the light of the moon. They were in the eye of this thing… and he wondered if this was a defensive barrier, _but for Duo_? It left him stumped and awed the lengths the One's people would go to save another. He hesitated, if these were Duo's people Duo would be safe. The One would be safe … Heero shook his head he needed him with him, both of them. Jirrad would come if they didn't return and then what was left of the One's people would never be free again.

"Duo," Heero called to him and glazed violets looked to him with a pout, the fever flush still high on his cheeks and what he could see through the hair stuck to his forehead.

"Not hungry," Duo shook his head and Heero smirked at him. Heero surveyed the area where Duo sat with a critical eye, hiding his uneasiness that the place where Duo sat and he stood, lie still while the sand and land inside the storm was turbulent.

Heero's hair prickled at the back of his neck, something was off now. He removed his face guard and held out his hand to Duo and Duo looked at it dazedly, swaying slightly. "Duo, we must go."

Duo reached out to him and fell forward, Newt's tail catching him as the ground shook beneath them.

"Damn it," Heero steadied himself and grabbed Duo's shoulder only to be thrown back. He stared up into the night sky confused, Krídlo hunched down low beside Heero like Newt was by Duo, her forked tongue sampling the air and the whole of her still as rock except for her twitching tail. Heero scrambled to his feet, the ground splitting before he could take his next step. "Duo!" Heero lunged forward as the sandy shelf Duo sat upon dropped into a crevice. He could see the white of Duo's eyes as he came to himself enough to know that his situation was a dire one and was reaching for him too. They caught each other. Heero had a tenuous hold of Duo's hand, their fingers hooking each other but too far apart for their hands to grasp for a firmer hold.

Duo's fingers slipped and Heero jerked forward and caught Duo by his wrist realizing that Duo had reached for him with his left hand.

"Duo?" Heero looked down at the braided and found him unconscious. _Damn these sands!_ Heero thought, trying not to think of the damage holding Duo by his left arm was doing to his side. He tried to crawl backwards but only slipped forward.

"Heero!" Heero heard Fraix, his head turning to see the older man break through the storm and race toward him. He closed his eyes for a moment and sensed all of his men except one getting closer. It didn't matter much, the sandy shelf crumbled beneath him and he was following Duo down into the crevice. Heero could only hope that his men could get away.

Tbc…


	7. Chapter VII

Warnings: Duo torture, yaoi = MXM goodiness, Mpreg

Pairings: 1x2 eventually, minor 3x4

AN: Another long chapter … enjoy and thanks for reading.

Feedback - appreciated.

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I don't own any of the sexies in Gundam Wing AC, I just love to help them live a little.  
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VII

_Gone._ He sneezed at his next inhale and sandy dust plumed up from where he lay on the earthen floor. Glazed violets opened slowly, the low light of the cavern not registering past the fact that his hand was empty. His hand lay half closed but high above his head, reaching for … what he couldn't recall.

_I lost something?_ He couldn't figure out what. It was a lingering feeling of want, like the times he'd been so hungry he had considered joining the Nartob soldiers. Duo frowned, he could hear something else. It was faint but she was scared. She, he realized, was not alone, they both were afraid but it wasn't for them. They were afraid for their parent.

"I'm coming," he whispered trying to get his arms to move even though he didn't know what he could do for them but he'd try to help. Even if he couldn't do anything besides be there for them it would be better than being alone with a hurt parent and not being able to do anything to help them.

_They must've fell into this place too._ He reasoned and shuddered. He needed to get there before the parent died. In a dark place like this the children would be sure to remember how still their parent was… covered in blood and whispers. He shook his head and his stomach protested at the motion. He felt their fear spike. He felt like he was with them in a bubble of sorts and he found strength from somewhere to push up on trembling arms and met glowing reptilian eyes at the level of his shoulder.

Newt regarded him for a few blinks of her large eyes, and then whipped her head around to stare at a distant wall. She was silently crouching in front of him and all Duo could think about was how hot it was. He forgot the children calling him. Duo tried to pull the robe off and over his head, he managed to get it up on his arms, over one elbow and fell over with it on his chin. He missed Newt's low trilling hiss and stayed there on the ground panting, the air was stifling and smothering inside the rode. He drifted off in a doze by the rhythmic sound of Newt's tail thumping on the ground not far from where he lay.

A low growl and a wounded sound from Newt brought him too again. He shucked the robe the rest of the way off, his undershirt shirt was soaked with sweat and sticking to him. He rose up on his elbows but his head was too heavy to lift so he rolled onto his stomach slowly and then tried to sit up on his elbows again. Successful, he waited for his head to stop spinning before he chanced opening an eye. Duo saw a large shape in the corner, not far from him, lying on its side, its large flank rapidly rising and falling but other than that it didn't move.

"Newt?" Duo winced when he tried to get his knees underneath him. His left side ached and thrummed with pain if he tried to put any pressure on it. He heard another whimper and made himself crawl, sliding leg over leg and kept his left side away from the floor by putting all of his weight on his right side. Another low growl drew his attention away from the crumpled form to its right. He squinted, trying to discern the dark crouching shape from the dark corner and its shadows. The growl grew into a half snarl and the glint of green slit eyes became noticeable to him. He smiled and inched toward the animal, "Kitty?"

Duo's sat up straighter just as a downward swooping swipe swooshed past his face. The desert cat stepped from the anonymity of the shadows and stalked toward Duo. Glossy violet eyes wavered, half looking into glowing green eyes and off to the side. He smiled at the feline goofily, one eye slipping closed. The cat silently crept closer, its glowing eyes flickering as it dipped throw shadows from glowing green to black rimmed, brown flecked gold with a trail of black dots beneath each eye. The cat had three dots just above the starting ridge of each brow. Duo looked curiously at the large black rimmed ears that had equally black and long ear hairs sticking out from the inside of each pale shell.

_Ha-ha! Kitty's got whiskers coming out his ears!_ The large ears twitched as if they heard Duo's mental laughter and his smile grew at the thought. The desert cat sat back on its hunches, teeth bared and paw raised as Duo sat and swayed, too insensible to recognize the danger.

"Hi kitty!" The cat jerked at the greeting and Duo pounced much like the cat had intended to do, wrapping his arms about its furry neck.

The cat stiffened, a half growling snarl frozen on its sharp tooth filled, black rimmed maw as it curiously regarded the suicidal human cuddling against him. The cat closed its mouth with an audible clamp of teeth and affected a put upon look across its features as if it were asking someone 'can I kill it now?' The cat growled low in its throat when Duo snuggled into its shoulder fur with his nose. The large desert cat growled, and then stopped when that growl became copious purrs reverberating in its chest and against Duo, surprising the fevered man and making him hold on tighter.

The cat, shocked and angry at himself, shoved Duo away with one large yellow paw.

Duo fell backwards onto the floor, his breath leaving him in a whoosh and his left side flaring hotly at the impact. Duo rolled his head over to look at the cat through a squinting, watery eye and saw the cat crouching, its black claws digging into the ground. It opened its mouth and roared in his face. Duo smiled, staring into the snapping maw with a grimace.

"We… Whew! Need to wash your mouth kitty, smell … like something died in there." Duo saw the toothy mouth snap at him before his vision swam and he felt heated breaths against his face as everything went dark.

Duo roused to the sound of a strong heartbeat and the scuff of feet against the floor. They were moving, the up and down motion making the food Heero had made him eat feel like a heavy weight in his stomach. He'd forgotten something, and it was on the edge of his mind. He knew what it was but he couldn't recall it. He pressed his throbbing head against the soft but firm shoulder beneath it. His eyes opened to slits at the growl rumbling through the chest attached to the shoulder he lay on. He forced back the weariness that blurred his vision and saw soft, silky black that glinted faintly blue in the dim light surrounding them. He saw more black silk shift across the other shoulder and realized he was laying on someone's hair. The top of the man's tunic lay open at the first few buttons and he tilted his head very slowly upward to see the man glare down at him with black lined almond shaped eyes that trapped him with their intensity. They were a brown so deep that he could barely distinguish the black of his eye from the whole of it. He smiled up into the glaring face when he saw three familiar black spots on his brows and trailing around each eye.

The man gave him a confused look, much like the one he remembered from before and shook him in his arms as if he were slow minded. He snickered and smiled up at him, the world swimming again. "Kitty," Duo kept his smile and the dark haired man scowled some more, wrinkling his nose and tossing him away.

For a heart stuttering moment he was sure he was going to hit a wall or the hard floor but instead the scowling man had tossed him to another person. The dark haired man walked ahead of them him with a snort and some coloring to his cheeks. Duo looked up to the new person and saw a friendly if not apologetic full-lip smile on his brown face. This man had finger length braids all around his head, two black finger length lines high on his cheeks and he wondered if he were a shape shifter too. Duo's vision was dimming again and he fought it feeling that strange bubble of fear now laced with sadness. There were kids some where down here in the dark and needing someone to tend to their parent. He wanted to tell this one that but then there was this sharper feeling, of being hungry? Yet it wasn't that exactly, it was more like he wanted or needed something. He wanted to be with Newt. He wondered what happen to his dragon. Duo's hand twitched to hold something in its emptiness and he pressed his fingers into his palm. 

_Heero_? Heero came to his thoughts unbidden but he didn't want him. No it couldn't be him and he didn't want to know what happen to him. He didn't need too.

Duo's eyes were wont to close and he let them, his head rolling on the shoulder that carried him. His vision clouded over before his eyes fully closed. His sight was blurred around the edges when he found his eyes open again.

He was running and disoriented. Someone grabbed him by the hand, holding him and trying to urge him back with them. He pushed him away. Duo found his eyes were locked on the rising wall around their homes and the growing column of smoke at the center of the council hall. The wall rose even though it seemed that it was already too late.

He was running again. He was afraid, betrayed, desperate, and angry all at once. The tumult of emotions blinded him to every thing else around him, including the people fleeing in the streets. There were soldiers chasing after them, cutting some down and beating others into submission. He narrowly missed one making a grab for him, but his feet were much smaller than he remembered and he was swifter, deftly avoiding the soldiers down swinging arm. His heart sped up as the white stone that made up the protective wall around the main and council houses caused earthquakes as they broke through the earth's surface.

He remembered his uncle saying that only the strongest of the earth wielders could call the white stone from the ground and with it surfaced a new worry, his cousin. His cousin had once called the white stone up by accident and scared them all when she'd slept for many days afterwards. He knew there were others who could do that but the only person registering in his mind was his cousin, if the white was coming from the ground then something must have happen to her and his mother. She was with her in the main council building and he worried about the baby she carried.

Duo ran on with tears in his eyes and caught the ledge of one stone as it shook the earth and rose to join the rest to form the protective wall. He fell over it, bruising his arm and leg but forcing himself up to run into to the council hall, to his family. His small hands rubbed at his wet and itchy eyes, he had little doubt were red rimmed from crying so much. He felt the impact of his head hitting the floor when he fell through the linen covered doorway leading to the main chamber of the council hall. It jarred him enough that he saw double; he was his older self and then there was his younger self, lying across a prone body and he came back together when his head hit the floor with a second wet smack.

Everything throbbed there after as he felt a cold hand beneath his own and found his auntie, the one that would sing to him and was forever goofy. She lay there so very still that it seemed unreal to him. Her upper half slumped awkwardly, obscured in the shadows of the corner. He started to call to her when a groan from some place in the center of the room drew him round to see more bodies. Not just any bodies, his family – his friends' parents, most of all the strongest adults who lived there or visited from neighboring clans… were gone. He felt the void of life there starkly, with a wrongness that twisted the air.

On quivering limbs, he stood and went toward the flicker of presence. He wasn't sure what to call it but it called to him and he followed it mindlessly, slipping in the red pools on the floor. He inevitably fell and a hand shot up from his hazy view of the stillness around him, catching him by the scruff of his shirt. Duo hung limply in the person's hold as they rose up to their knees.

"Duo." Duo felt his eyes go wide at the sound of that voice before heard himself speak.

"Da!" It was more of a cry, the shaking in his limbs giving way to the beginnings of shock. But there was shifting on the edge of his awareness and he heard his older voice overlap with his younger voice. His attention returned to this fevered dream, for that was what he thought it must be because he had no such memories. Duo's doubts disappeared when he watched the man with eyes like his but a brighter violet stare at him with a manic gleam to them.

_Get away!_ He tried to warn his younger self but it went unheard. He could do nothing else to warn him that there was something was wrong with the older man.

"Da!" He felt exhilarated, scared and relieved all at once but as his father sat up with a shudder. He saw himself reach to hug his father but instead he was turned away and laid him across his lap, rubbing his back as he cried. Duo turned his head to his father and watched, not understanding why his father had a knife in his hand but he felt the warmth of the blade before it cut him low on his back. Duo screamed. The sound doubled somehow and the pain was so real that he felt the wound on his back throb in time with his racing heart.

There was a ghost feeling of hands shaking him but then he was back in the dream. Duo laid across his father's lap in shock and uncomprehending of the things tumbling from his father's mouth as pain seized him and his father stuck his fingers in the wound making it wider. He cringed at the feel of it and felt acid burn the back of his throat.

"Duo… I can hear it. You'll hear it when it's time. You'll understand later b-but you'll need this."

More pain flared up at those words in his back and side, tearing - searing and everything faded away. Next he knew the feel of a heavy hand on his head, rubbing it to sooth him. The hand jerked mid-stroke, interrupted by a series of wrenching coughs that brought him to a hazy state of awareness. The pain was slowly disappearing and being replaced with warmth.

"Nana knows and she won't be stopped. I have just… enough." He was being rocked but the warmth still worked to undo the damaged to his back. "Nana… won't be stopped but you… you'll… final… f-final s-say. We… love -ou."

He felt the larger body of his father lean over him, pressing a kiss to the back of his head, but didn't try to sit back up. Labored breath puffed ardently in his hair before they stuttered to a stop. Warm trails seeped through his hair to his scalp, across his face and he let the weighty silence and the frantic thrum of is own heart blot out everything but the last of his father's words.

Duo awoke, wary of dreams within dreams which he'd been experiencing more of lately. A cold compress eased the heat in his head he hadn't noticed before and the lethargy of sleep clung to him so he let it. He realized he was thirsty, but he didn't want to wake up and be forced to ride and deal with Heero. He licked his lips when something soft and moist was pressed to them. He sucked at it, its wetness answering his thirst. Then he bit at it when his taste buds came alive and it tasted good. It was so good and he had to have more of it before it was taken away like all things good inevitably were. He bit at it, trying to take it all and it was jerked away with an in drawn breath.

"You can't eat me!" The voice chuckled and for some reason he couldn't bring himself to be frighten.

_Not Heero_. Duo thought, a little confused but not as pleased as he thought he would be at the prospect of being free of the curt man. Yet he was willing to take a chance with this unknown person, it was better than going back to Maheran. The one tending to him had a warm, familiar voice and laughed good-naturedly at the slight from a sick man. The moist fruit in chilled water was offered to him again and he ate of it until he could eat no more. The hand was cool as it touched both his cheeks and then under his chin.

"It's gone down." The voice sounded relieved and he recognized the voice because he spoke the last with a great exhale. He was the voice of the wind - of the storm that fell upon them in the desert. This was a wielder caring for him and he felt himself sink into the bed, reassured that he was some place better than before. He couldn't explain it but he knew he would stay here. Duo heard the wielder make an odd sound.

_He's pleased too_? He wondered if he was reading too much into it without actually seeing his face. Somehow he had a feeling he was right. Unconsciously, he curled toward where he thought this wielder was.

"I claim him! He's so cute." He heard a derisive snort follow the female's comment.

"He's already marked." The voice of the wind sounded thoughtful as he replaced the compress and his fingers dallied in Duo's long bangs.

A growl was followed with an explosive hit against something in the room. Duo jerked at the sound, disturbing the placement of the compress but the wielder remained steady in his movements, shifting the cool compress back in place.

"They are disgraceful!" He heard the barely contained fury, "That one! It must be him! You should let me kill him and the boy can then find one of his own choosing." He heard this voice and it sounded gruffer the more he talk, ever hopeful at the promise of pain and more than willing to carry it out. However, Duo's brow furrowed and he couldn't picture a person fierce enough just a cat.

"Kitteh…" He half mumbled unknowingly and incited laughter along with a low rumbling growl.

"I think he has a preference for the feline variety." The woman said sagely and even though Duo was the root of their conversation, he was content to float on the tails of sleep and wakefulness.

"No, Wu Fei." The voice of the wind said, amusement plain in his voice with a firm undertone that demanded obedience.

The compress was replaced, the hand lingering over it and he could feel the presence of the person leaning over him. It wasn't the wielder. He could feel eyes on him in an uncomfortable way. "Yes," it was the woman and he could hear the smile in her voice, "stop being such a mean kitty."

He heard the rustling of fabric, there was a name heavy on his tongue that left his mouth dry. He dozed in the silence or maybe they had still been talking when the dream, he couldn't remember, had snuck up on him. Duo started back to semi-wakefulness at the sound of the woman's voice but it was further away. "Quat?"

There was silence and Duo almost slipped off again.

The woman sighed heavily, "Quat you need not attend to him yourself. There are others, particularly a cat that has an interest in this stray."

"Hm." The gentle hand was back, fingers wiping away wetness from his eyes. His eyes opened at the touch and he saw a pale haired man and a tall, fair haired woman standing behind him before they closed again, too heavy to stay open. She was an innocuous presence now and exuded worry as a mother would. But she looked too young to be this one's, Quat's, mother.

"Quat."

"I'm fine, Thecla."

"Quatre, this isn't the time to push yourself. You have yet to rest and we have many more cousins in that place. If we can't reclaim our home-"

"Then we will save our people." Quatre's hand was by his face, the touch was so light that he hadn't noticed it was there until he stopped moving it over his cheek. Quatre's voice was decisive, a calming balm with a willful force behind it. Duo felt that if he were to fight for this man, he could believe in his promises and find hope in his words. He hoped this one got his people back.

"Yes, Quat and for what it's worth I understand how you feel."

"You don't." There was a degree of cynicism that colored Quatre's voice and that almost hid the loneliness in it.

"I do. My sister," her voice broke and when she spoke again the emotion that came so deeply at the mention of her sister was stemmed, "Believe me when I say I understand Quat. I can easily see myself standing there and know what she's experiencing. What he is. We rescued her to have her die with her child…" Thecla broke off again, her tone quiet, "She died free."

Through his lashes he saw her hug him, "It is best that the One not be here. Nana's song will be heard but the girl is too well known to stay here."

"They'll never stop looking." Quatre agreed, nodding at his own weighty words as if trying to convince himself. "You want … We should force her out with Heero." Quatre sounded strained, and he frowned staring down at the coverlet.

"If we must but it must be soon. We'll do all we can for her brother but like with other bearers... forced of this even though he was marked, the birth will kill him. Maybe if Nana was around to balance them, if the child-"

Her words were lost to him and he felt that bubble again even though he wanted to hear of Heero's involvement. They were crying. He'd forgotten about them. He sat up, alone in a room with a linen cloth covering the entrance. He wished he'd told Quatre about them but there was no time now. He stumbled toward the entryway his side gave a dull throb of protest as he made his way down a hall, then another not seeing so much as following the sound of the crying children. He fell through the entryway of a dim lit room and a hush followed. Duo looked around the room and found a person, lying deathly still on the bed near the back of the room and no one else. His confusion quickly disappeared when he heard them crying once more. He couldn't find them though, then he saw the space beneath the bed and understood why, they were hiding. Duo crawled toward the bed.

"Hey? You guys ok? You don't have to worry. Your papa will be-" He peeked beneath the bed and found nothing. He sat back on his legs and leaned against the bed, panting slightly and even more confused. He dozed there, resting his head on his arms on the bed and the person resting there barely moved.

"Millie, I brought you more of that fruit you like so much." She pulled the hide covering aside to enter and saw a second figure next to her brother out the corner of her eye. "I thought they already sent someone this morning?" She asked casually, going to the small table to put down the bowl of fruit next to the water gourd. She frowned when there was no response, turned to the person at her brother's bedside. The longhaired person wore the pants of a soldier, a Nartob soldier. Her eyes quickly sought her brother's and he was still lying in the same position he had been in when she'd left. Her throat went dry but she forced it to work.

"Who are you?" The suspicion in her voice woke Duo and he pulled himself up on the bed, rubbing sleep from his eyes and strands of his hair out his face. He dropped his hand to the bed and the person sleeping on the bed stirred and cringed at seeing him. He blinked at the deeply shadowed, pale eyes that narrowed at him even though he could hear the man's heartbeat and two others racing. He knew his hair was an unkempt mess but he didn't think he looked bad enough to scare someone.

"Move! Get away from him!" Duo looked back to her owlishly, her long hair slipping forward over one shoulder as she repeated her words with a forceful gesture.

Duo shook his head, trying to clear the fog from his mind but his limbs were sluggish and he couldn't stand up.

"The children…" Duo started to explain then stopped, looking about the room and realizing he hadn't found the children. He saw only the frighten man who was struggling to keep his face blank and the girl with the pinched face.

"S-sorry." He mumbled, attempting to stand and fell backward. Millardo tried to move to the other side of the bed but Duo's hand landed on his stomach the same time Relena grabbed Duo's other hand and tried to stop him from falling on her brother.

For a long moment they stayed like that, frozen in place until Millardo collapsed back onto the bed. Duo and Relena's eyes closed and light filled the room.

O----------------------OoO----------------------O

He was going to kill someone and soon. He sat crossed leg with his arms crossed over his chest and watched with, his sight, the movements of the people around him outside his room. He'd make no move, even though where they held him was a room they had hastily cleared of bedding with a simple piece of cloth covering the entryway. It was clear that they'd never taken prisoners before and with two guards outside his door he could have easily overpowered them and been on his way. Instead, he waited and watched Duo where he was resting and surprisingly enough, he came across a familiar presence that would make things all the more easier. It was a humbling experience for someone like himself to be subdued when he was usually the suppressor. But this person chose not to do so now, for whatever the reasons. Heero wasn't one to waste an opportunity on getting a bearing of his surroundings and his enemies.

Heero's brows furrowed, Duo's presence was nearly as intense as Relena's. He searched the underground tunnels and found many other presences but only theirs seemed to be the brightest.

_Too many wielders in one place, _he shook his head, this was reason enough for them to leave this place. Jirrad was an adept tracker and with this many wielders in one place he was surprised they hadn't been discovered sooner. Then again, he wasn't with sandstorms that left no survivors and a person capable of subduing him on their side, they were formidable.

Heero turned glowing eyes to the cloth that covered the entry to his cell and saw a bright presence like that of Relena and Duo's come in alone. He winced, his eyes stinging at being so close and switched back to his normal vision. A boy stood before him with pale blond hair and aquamarine eyes that carried a slight glow even in the dim light of his cell. Heero stared at him and the boy smirked at him knowingly.

"Getting acquainted with our home?"

Heero kept his face carefully blank, resting his hands in his lap. The blonde boy moved about the room, running his fingers along the wall. Heero stared at the wall in front of him.

"Heero, I'm sorry about your loss but it happens." Heero glowered, he'd never given his name and he thought perhaps they had got it from Duo. "What we will do is release you and we'll allow you to take your figurehead back with you."

"No," the blonde boy turned to face him, staring at him in an unnerving way that made Heero want to look away. It was a strange thing considering he usually inspired that reaction in others. "I'll leave with both the One and Duo."

"No, there is no negotiating the matter. Considering, he will not be missed by many. I'm sure you can say he died out here in the wilds like most do." The blonde boy became silent when the two guards brought in a chair, and a tray of fruit and a glass of water which they set down by Heero. They said nothing out of turn and showed Heero no resentment when they turned to leave with the blonde's quiet thank you.

The blonde boy sat on the floor and leaned on the chair, laying his chin on his arm and gestured toward the food. Heero looked at it then back to the blonde, "I doubt poisoning you would do us any good."

Heero snorted and ate hesitantly of the fruit and took note of the boy's odd eyes as said boy watched him eat under pale lashes.

"I'll not leave without both of them." Heero drank the water and he realized the boy's pupils didn't change when his eyes closed or opened. They were like tiny islands in a blue-green sea.

"You'll take the girl alone."

Heero arched a brow over the lip of the cup before setting it down next to the bowl. "No."

"Then you are a fool to take him back and risk him harm." The blonde didn't move from his position, his voice calm and diplomatic with an iron fortitude behind it.

Heero's face stayed mostly blank except for the furrow between his brows, "And you'll keep him here and risk all the people living here?"

The blonde boy smirked, and gestured up to the ceiling of the room. Heero didn't bother to look up. The boy smiled pointing toward his eyes then at the ceiling again. Heero's lip curled in a slight snarl but he let his vision slip into 'the sight' and obliged the boy by looking up. He could see nothing not even the presences of the animals he knew lived beneath the sands. Then he understood what he hadn't seen in the storm. If Jirrad were to come then he'd see the animals that dwelt beneath the sand but not the extensive network of tunnels and corridors or the many people who lived here.

"They'll not know he's here unless you tell them and I know the girl wouldn't." The blonde said simply with a meaningful look in his direction.

Heero smirked darkly, not liking his expression. "Are you saying you're willing to trust me with your secret?"

The blonde sat up and rested the side of his head against the inside of his raised fist, "No. I trust that you want Duo safe and if you tell, you'll be offering him up to…" he smirked sardonically, "anyone with aspirations for power and the prophecy."

"I could easily give them you." Heero countered sharply.

The air stirred and Heero felt a sudden pressure from all sides, the boy's eyes were pupiless.

Quatre grinned at Heero crookedly, a frenzied gleam to his eyes, "I'd like to see you try."

Heero smirked, he never refused a challenge. The pressure was gone and Heero saw the boy stop short of saying something as a frown marred his fey features. He watched the boy's head jerk up before he stood abruptly, swaying on his feet and half running out of Heero's cell. Heero rose then slipped to one knee, a burst of something strange and draining – an after shock of sorts - hit him and took his breath away.

"The One?" Heero panted, remembering something similar happening when Relena would disappear for days to be found in some once barren place. More often than not, he was the one who found her unconscious at the heart of a newly restored vale. He ran out after the blonde, the guards too disoriented by the shockwave to stop him from leaving.

Heero expected to see an explosion of green, but what he found as he followed the fair haired boy in the long tunic was another sand paved corridor like all the rest except this wing of the underground tunnels was erringly quiet. His vision wavered just as he caught sight of the blonde's sweeping tunic turn another corner and Heero followed stubbornly shaking the weakness that left him wanting to sit like his supposed guards were probably doing right now. He straighten and steadied himself at the covered entryway to which could only assume was another room. He started to enter and was pushed back by a harried looking blonde woman with twisted braids pulled back into a pony tail over one shoulder. She glowered down at him even though she was half a head shorter than him.

"Thecla, it's alright."

The fierce look on her sun kissed face faded into a discontent frown, "Quatre?"

There was no response from the room within. He could see it in her eyes that she wanted to do something more. For a moment he thought she would but instead she glared at him and stepped aside. Thecla kept her eyes on him, a smirk curling one side of her pale pink lips. She caught his shoulder when he took a step inside and squeezed down on the shoulder guard making it squeak beneath her hand. "You have leave."

Heero said nothing in response to her soft spoken consent, he was no fool. It told him that the opposite was true and that he'll be watched more so since the boy, Quatre, seemed to have little care where he was concerned. It made him wonder about the boy's position here that he'd be so cocksure of his safety that he'd reveal himself to an enemy. But he had an excellent bargaining chip and by the looks of things, he was the only unwelcomed guest amongst these people.

He raised a brow at the fine-fingered hand on his shoulder guard, deceptive in its delicate look and strength. Thecla let him turn into the room, he was doubtful he could have done so otherwise. His eyes immediately found Duo slumped against the side of the bed with his head pressed to side of the person lying in the bed. The person shifted and curled as much as their large middle would allow them toward Duo and Heero knew him.

"Zechs?" It was the name Millardo had taken after he'd gone through the tour under the duress of Khushrenada and out of fear for his sister before he disappeared. It was the name Heero knew the pregnant man by best. He stared at Zechs' sleeping form, glowing as he slept and Heero frowned. He'd never been able to answer Relena's questions about her brother's whereabouts. He'd even asked Jirrad on her behalf, when he preferred to be as far away from the old man as possible and he'd told him that Millardo was on a special assignment. He knew enough not to trust such an easy answer. He had thought for a while that Millardo was still in the palace because Relena said he was close but when he looked with the sight, he saw no one similar in strength to Relena's presence. If Zechs was beyond the temple-palace and out in Maheran, he wouldn't be able to use the sight to find him anyway. No seeker could in Maheran.

Then another possibility occurred to him, Zechs being a spy.

_A spy amongst his own people_, Heero despised the old man even more. Now that he understood the true purpose of the tour. _It not only trains and conditions them into loyal soldiers but makes them traitors to their own people_. He had all the more reason now to take Duo back to Maheran. Maybe leave a note warning Quatre about the sleeping bomb in their undercity after they left. _That would also spare Relena from finding out_.

"What happened?" Heero turned at Quatre's voice and saw him helping Relena to sit at the small table near the bed.

She shook her head and Quatre stepped back, taking the water gourd in hand. Heero arched a brow, surprised that the boy had seen it at all. _He hides it well_. Heero sent a lingering glance at the bed and then turned fully to Relena and Quatre.

"Relena?" Heero called to then he waited when Quatre put the cup to her mouth. She moving sluggishly, her hand bracing Quatre's as she drank deeply at first then sips that were louder than the snores of the two sleeping men in the room.

Relena looked to him and smiled tiredly, "Found me did you?"

Heero nodded stiffly and watched her as she looked back to the bed with tears in her eyes. Heero knew they were not ones of remorse but happiness from the expression on here face. Heero felt his discontent grow and Quatre's brow furrowed as he replaced the cup by the water gourd.

Quatre left them in each other's company and headed over to the bed. Relena's quiet voice stopped Heero before he could intercept him.

"Did you know they had him locked away in the palace-temple?"

Heero looked at her with a frown while she smiled and watched her brother sleep quietly. He closed his eyes with a solemn expression and considered that possibility. It was possible because no seeker could see through the stone that made up the prison beneath the palace-temple's foyer.

"Leave him be. He's fine where he is." She said abruptly and Heero saw that Quatre drew his hand back and picked up a blanket instead to put over Duo. Quatre gave Relena a muted look though it was clear he didn't take well to being ordered around in his own home.

"Did you? Did you know he was being suppressed all that time and the right to claim his bond mate taken from him?!" Her voice still quiet but the anger seethed at the end, edging her words with a cutting sharpness that made Heero want to keep silent.

Heero exhaled, swaying as fatigue caught up with him. He preferred not being the focus of her attention. He did understand that he wasn't the one she was angry with, but it hurt nonetheless. From what he'd seen of Millardo, the earth wielder was whole, healthy looking and … pregnant. The depth of Relena's emotional accusation said otherwise, hinted at him being injured or hurt in some way. He was aware of Zechs' refusing the help of healers before, even his own sister's help on more than one occasion. Yet, Heero found no bruises or wounds when he looked him over, nothing to warrant her emotional distress except that his face looked thinner.

Heero pursed his lips catching the shimmer of tears in her eyes and saw them as they spilled over one cheek. Heero gritted his teeth, feeling some of his resolve crumble at the sight of her tears. He had no words for her. How could he when they were rooted in suspicions that he had no real way of proving were true. She'd find no comfort in what he'd have to say and he could see she fully believed in what she'd been told. He decided, reluctantly, that he'd trust in her and if she'd been lied to, he'd met out their punishment when the time came.

* * * *

Relena smiled at him, closing her eyes at the conflict she saw that he seldom showed on his face and knew that he had no part in it. She stood and her legs wobbling beneath her and Heero steadied her with a hand on her arm.

She smiled gratefully and answered his unasked question. "He was healed and whatever else he's lacking … physically can be restored with some sleep and food."

_And his freedom…_ She missed some of the tension leaving Heero's face as tears welled up in her eyes. She wouldn't cry anymore, she was a warrior who only wanted her brother to smile again. Truly smile even if she couldn't be witness to it. She was very aware of what position she was putting the people here in if she stayed.

"He's balanced?" Quatre stared at her with wide eyes and a bright, if not weary, smile on his face.

Relena couldn't help the smile that answered his, curious but keeping to herself that she would have never been capable of doing it herself. Even if there were no options left and Millardo had told her she could heal him. All she would've accomplished was healing his wounds and easing his malnourishment but the child he carried and the powers it wielded would've been beyond her control.

_He would've died still! _She struggled to keep her smile at that sudden realization. Things about her people that was lost to many of them in Maheran because there were no wielders older than her there. _We were all children when our parents and our families were killed. Millardo would've been the oldest,_ and with that thought she understood the reasons for his concealment.

_He would've been the only one to know the full extent of the truth._ If not for Heero, Fraix, and others - even Treize who oft spoke of larger themes that left her wheedling away the layers for his real answer – she would have eventually forgotten and accepted what the Eunuchs taught, the Monarch's truth.

She eyed the boy lying lankly against the side of the bed. She felt the sting of jealousy and peace of gratitude struggle with each other because she knew that an imbalance between the parent and child was important somehow. And the boy, not her, had fixed it. She knew that she had played a part in making it happen but in the face of this boy she hadn't been as crucial a participant. She had always been the important one before him.

_Trite, Relena real trite_. She berated herself. Her ice blue eyes shifted from the sleeping boy to the blonde man, "Quatre, he's one of us isn't he?"

Quatre had the same unsteady look about him like Heero did and shrugged one shoulder, aquamarine eyes unchanged in the dim light of the room as he looked toward them and not at them. "Yes," he smirked at the dark haired man's scowling face and that made her wonder if she was wrong, "although I can't be sure. He could be one of us or a suppressor like Heero. He carries no mark that I've seen."

"No clue what he wields then?"

Quatre arched a brow at her question. Relena blushed and gave him a hard look, "Things have changed there. Everywhere! So much that I only know when… our people die." She muttered the last, gripping Heero's hand on her arm. "I can't sense them like you can. I know they're there and I'm not alone even with the ones under my protection as acolytes, I wouldn't be able to tell if they wielded. Fortunately, none of the others can either in Maheran."

Heero frowned at her, she knew how he felt about being too trusting but it was her burden to bear. It felt good to tell someone the truth for what it really was.

Quatre nodded distractedly, "I see. Yes, forgive me, not all of us can see or sense the other. His ability could be the air we breathe but it's not. I'd know if we were the same but there's an affinity…" Quatre shook his head, "It could be anything or nothing at all. Could it be that Nana's song is the reason some of us are still free of Natrob?"

"No. I thought it hand something to do with the Prophecy?"

Quatre shook his head, "It is the same. Nana was a healer, an earth wielder like you Relena who was also a seeker, a person who could suppress others if they need help controlling it. It's not so uncommon a thing that a wielder can also suppress but some believed because of this, Nana was able to wield more than one element."

Relena looked to Heero and Heero had no answer for her. Quatre held up a hand forestalling her question. "We never called ourselves such you know, wielders and seekers. As in nature, there exists a balance. Amongst our people, there are some who can suppress wielders and they seek out that person who matches them in strength just as wielders seek their other half. We are, as we have always been, people. People who suffer just like others do and who chose to be nomadic. It was the way and had always kept us from the dangers of the world. When needed, our clans often met in the different tribal halls to celebrate various occasions or handle disputes. We were a goodly people who sought no ill or harm to others. When Nartob started targeting our people, Maheran was the first to fall and then others. Many others."

"Not all enmities, it seems, can be settled through words alone. We found out much later that one of the clans had been aiding Nartob for they would've never known of us or of what abilities we possessed. Nana, the greatest of us, saved and even swayed the way things were interpreted by the people but in the end the Monarch's version where he is our savior still stands. Nana vowed on the wind that they would never _see _us until the last of them lay rotting at our feet."

"She cursed the people of this world." Relena whispered to herself but Quatre heard it anyway.

"No she didn't."

"Yes she did. Not all of those people are at fault!"

"Then tell that to your dead parents! Your brother imprisoned for simply being! Tell that to my mother and my sisters! Say that to the people in this city who can never go above ground in fear of being _seek_ed!"

Relena felt Heero stiffen beside her when Quatre's sharp eyes cut heatedly to Heero.

"Say it, and see if any of them - these who've survived without a cage of lies to protect them - will side with you!" Quatre glowered, the air in the room stirring.

Relena's eyes slowly rounded with Quatre's every word.

_Not just words_, she admitted to herself, her mouth closing from the 'o' to form and her lips curving downward in an attempt to match the wealth of pain, anger and sadness Quatre had opened her eyes too.

She waited, enrapt by Quatre's intensity and felt the inexplicable need to follow him if need be. Relena shook her head and watched Quatre exhale, closing his eyes – then opening them. The anger, pain... everything was gone from the aquamarine pools but the air still stirred about them.

"It is not for us to decide. Nana's chosen will make the decision." Quatre said calmly, continuing but looking toward the bed where the sleeping men were with a smirk curving his lips. "If there are enough of us left with the strength of our elders than we could undo the damage that Nartob's slaughtering of our people has caused."

"If that's possible. The prophecy says that the One wields the source and hones the four on harden earth. The One will step forth over kindled, scoured surfaces and breathe life into all that was once barren."

Quatre looked to Relena, his smile bitter, "Yes, but you are not solely spoken of in the prophecy. I understand that it's hard for you to understand-"

"How dare you-"

"I meant no offense but the prophecy, as you know it, is only to further serve Nartob's purposes. You have to know that the right one would lie with us."

Relena nodded, irritated enough to stand on her own with her arms crossed over her slim waist. No one spoke to her like that before, they were always reverent or reserved in some way.

"Again, the important thing is that she vowed it 'on the wind.'"

Relena looked at him skeptically, "But you control the wind."

Quatre shook his head, "I do not. I wouldn't alter it. I can't. We coexist with the elements we wield. I can ask it."

"Then what is this _true_ version?" Heero intervened, ending his silent observation of them both and stopping her from agitating Quatre further with doubtful questioning.

Quatre closed his eyes, his lips pressed into a thin line that left them colorless as he concentrated. He held out one hand, palm up to the empty air to the left of him.

"_Four hands to call,_

_One wields the stone, _

_One whispering pall to bearer hold and hone_

_the other must kindle which cannot burn_

_From four, two _

_Then two step One_."

The voice came from just over Quatre's hand. Relena could feel something more was there but Quatre closed his hand and the voice and its presence was gone. Quatre leaned heavily on the wall, "That is the prophecy."

Relena frowned, looking to Heero who had a similar expression. They had been told of her importance all their lives and that she was the One the prophecy spoke of.

She shook her head, "But it says nothing of the place. The priest often said that there had to be a particular place for the prophecy to be done."

Quatre nodded, "You know it already."

Relena frowned but it was more of a pout before her eyes lit up. "The Mountains," she whispered in awe.

Quatre smiled and Heero shook his head.

"They've been all over the mountains, there was nothing there."

"Nothing for Nartob, but for our people there is." Quatre interjected.

Relena nodded, "Millardo kept pushing us toward the mountains before Quatre found us. We should go there."

Heero shook his head, "No. They already checked, tried and the result was the same. Nothing came of it."

Relena smiled brightly at the two of them, "But we haven't"

Heero rolled his eyes and ignored her hopeful expression. Hope was the most infectious of all emotions.

She gave him her best pleading look, she hadn't done it in years and knew at best she looked silly but it was worth a shot. A muscle twitched along the side of Heero jaw and Relena could practically hear the groan of suffering that he'd never let anyone hear him do. She smiled brightly at him again, knowing he'd do it for her.

Heero snorted, "Relena."

_Gotcha! It was almost a laugh,_ she cheered inside her head. "This will be a chance to help everyone. It isn't right. I can't go back there and not have tried."

Heero remained silent for a long while then nodded stiffly. Relena clapped her hands together, spinning around back to Quatre. So fast that she swayed on her feet and Heero had to catch her. She laughed a little, her voice lost none of its eagerness. "There needs to be four of us. Four wielders, I know Hilde will do it."

"Relena, you realize that if-" Heero looked at her in disbelief, "since your brother's escape and you left with him, we can't just waltz back into Maheran thinking they'll let us leave again."

"Heero, they wouldn't know I left with him." Relena pouted.

"They'd be hard pressed to believe that considering you've asked about him constantly and they know he'd try to reach you in some way. I'll have Fraix go get his girl but for that to happen I need to be allowed access to the surface."

"We'll see." Quatre said airily.

"My men follow me and obey me." Heero remarked tersely.

Quatre regarded him silently. "And you intended to have them come with us?"

Heero stared at him hard and Relena watched. Quatre looked away from him, a clearly dismissive gesture and Relena cut in, stopping Heero from moving. "Quatre you'll be coming with us?"

"Of course."

"Are you sure that your people couldn't spare another wind wielder?" She had barely finished her question when she noticed Quatre shaking his head.

"No. I am the last." None of them spoke of water. They all knew that Nartob's soldiers had recklessly killed all who opposed them, the majority being adults and teens, and with them most of the water wielders. No matter how the Monarch dressed the history, all the people had to do was look outside their windows or go passed the borders of their kingdom to see the result of their conquering Monarch. She and all her acolytes were very aware of it.

The gravity of Quatre's voice was also familiar. So much so that what she felt for him was not only sympathy but understanding. When Quatre next spoke, his bright tone made her think she'd imagined it.

"There's a real chance this may work. You, Relena, have the capacity of Nana."

Relena blinked at him, her eyes wide for a moment when she caught on to what he was saying. She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and looked away from him. "Quatre-"

"What's amazing is what you've done here!"

Relena's lower lip stuck out a bit and she stared at the bed, then at the back of Duo's head without meaning to. The blush returned to her cheeks and she stared dejectedly at an empty spot on the bed instead.

Quatre looked reflective when he spoke next, "Many have died giving birth or died before they could because of the opposing forces of their elements - their own versus their child's. We have had many die because the opposition was so great that it tore the bearer apart from the inside. Now that he's stable, the strain the accelerated pregnancy was putting on his body will lessen. It won't be long though, he has a few months more."

Relena shook her head, "No, Thecla said he was maybe two months."

"As a part of this imbalance, accelerated growth is no strange occurrence and doesn't cause defects in the child that we've seen. Sometimes, it's been possible for the bearer's bonded or chosen to slow the growth and the damage to both the bearer and child by suppressing the bearer's ability and the child's to a small degree."

Relena visibly paled, watching her brother sleep peacefully for once. "But…" She looked to Quatre, eyes wide. "We've only been here two days!"

Quatre had a stricken look to him as if he hadn't meant to say something. He sighed, realizing there was a lot he could have saved for a later time. "You're lucky we found each other when we did. Whoever your brother's bound to is a strong suppressor, his equal, but without contact or proximity the suppression or seal, as it were, wears away. More so since the seal wasn't complete. He could still use his abilities?"

Relena nodded, though it didn't seem like a question to her. Her brother had told her Quatre was out in the sand watching them when she set out to meet him. But Millardo wouldn't tell her who the father was. It hadn't been that much of a shock to her to find out that he was pregnant. She had known that some of the men in their clans could be bearers.

_But if it hadn't been for the boy, leaving Millardo here without the person whom marked him…_ Then she remembered how Treize was holding her brother possessively and her anger warred with her fear.

"I-I didn't know…" her bottom lip quivered, "it was involuntary." She glanced up at Quatre and saw him nod with something akin to regret on his face.

"We will look after him and protect him and the children he carries."

Heero arched a brow in understanding and Relena stared at the bed again.

"Children? He has two?" She asked, baffled.

Quatre frowned fleetingly then leaned back on the wall with a tired smile. "Yes."

"Are you sure because-"

"There are two of them. I'm sure. You can ask Heero to check if you doubt in my words." Quatre closed his eyes, dark circles that she hadn't seen before became more visible under his lashes.

"Thank you." She wasn't sure how Millardo would feel about the children now that there was a guarantee that he would survive their birth. She had a feeling that there were no few people here that wouldn't love to have them, care for them if Millardo found he couldn't. Quatre's current state, though, made her wonder if he'd be able to go anywhere with them.

She blinked at the blank look he gave her, stunned and feeling that Quatre somehow knew what she was thinking. She watched him push away from the wall and manage not to stumble over to the entryway. A hand caught his arm through the linen covering. Thecla stepped into the room intent on Quatre and bore his weight easily.

Quatre smiled at her, resting his head against the top of hers.

"Quatre, I need to speak with my men." Heero's tone had a measure of respect in it and it made Relena wondered what had changed.

"I think not." Thecla said the last word sharply as if she wanted to slap Heero. "You won't be speaking with anyone."

Relena was shocked to see the healer of the undercity, who had been nothing but kind to her and her brother, practically growl at Heero.

"He's obviously overtaxing himself. You should control and care for him better." Heero remarked icily, his face blank and seemingly unaffected by Thecla's attitude toward him.

Relena looked at Heero with a raised brow and Thecla froze half way out the door. "I don't abuse him or my ability. I don't force others to submit to me just because I can or mark them so that they have no choice in who they have children with and are bound solely to me. That's something your clan does. Here, we suppress and seal a wielder's powers only to help the wielder until they can regain control of it if it becomes too much. What we do for each other _is_ always done by mutual agreement. Always."

Relena touched Heero's hand on her arm, shaking him out of his fixed stare at Thecla's departing back. She looked at his troubled face and saw the pain there. The choice made by his clan was never his fault and though she'd told him many times before it didn't seem to stick. Heero had never forced anything on her or marked her. She stared into his dark blue eyes until the pained looked in them eased and she knew he realized this too.

She kissed his check and smiled, "Heero, I need to rest, please help me back to my room?"

Heero nodded and guided her out the room and toward hers with her pointing the way.

"Can you tell me how you came to be here along the way and more about this boy?" Relena smirked when he stiffened but didn't stop moving. She wasn't so dense or self-absorbed that she couldn't see who had the whole of his attention in that room.

Tbc…


	8. Chapter VIII

Warnings: Duo torture, yaoi = MXM goodiness, Mpreg

Pairings: 1x2 eventually, minor 3x4

AN: No internet T_T - apologies in the wait between updates… enjoy and thanks for reading.

Feedback - appreciated.

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I don't own any of the sexies in Gundam Wing AC, I just love to help them live a little.  
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VIII

They were loud.

_You'd think they'd take their argument elsewhere but no, they do it here without thinking about the people trying to sleep in here!_ Duo grumbled in his head the last of the thought slipping out in a barely coherent murmur from his lips. He woke a little more when the word 'babies' stuck to his tongue, and then he sat up remembering everything.

_The girl, the man and the room filling with bright light. _He said to himself while he looked around, twisting this way and that until his side sent a sharp reminder that he was still hurt. Yet Duo didn't feel sick anymore and the pain in his side was more like a deep seated ache than a sickly, life draining wound.

"Babies?" He spoke the word still sitting on the floor and leaning on the side of the bed before his eyes fell on the mound in front of him.

_The babies,_ Duo smiled goofily to himself, his hand moving on its own accord and touching the side of the mound. Duo jerked back when he felt movement against his hand. It made him picture another time when he was smaller and his mother heavy with child. He was half aware that he was being watched as his eyes misted up.

_I had a mother and a father._ It was different to say it now because he could see their faces in his memories. When before there had been none. The thought of his family abandoning him had cut deep in the beginning and it was easier not to think about it at all. But he knew now that they hadn't abandoned him. He truly believed and felt that they had never meant to leave him alone. Duo's hand drifted back to the mound and his eyes met corn flower blues that watched him curiously.

Duo tried not to stare at the man anymore, a blush engulfed his cheeks as he muttered an apology. He swallowed nervously, cupping his hand in the other across his lap when the long haired man said nothing in response.

"It's just that I was curious about the babies?" Duo fidgeted under the unrelenting stare as the man continued to stare at him. "I'm-"

"Are they?"

The man's voice was like milk and honey with a hard edge to it but strained and tired. It was familiar. Duo looked at the long haired man in confusion and saw the pain in the man's eyes as his one visible hand shook, and then fisted the covers at his side. The man was almost as white as his hair and Duo went for the bowl and the water on the small table. He came back to the man holding it out to him and sighing when the man stared off at the wall instead of taking them from him.

"Are they?" Duo heard the long haired man repeat in another strained whisper.

Duo put the cup of water in the bend of his arm, against the side of his chest and then ran his fingers over the man's fisted hand. Millardo jerked, coming back to himself and looked up to him. Duo pried Millardo's hand away from the covers and put it on top of his stomach, rubbing it until some of the shaking subsided.

Millardo unfurled his fingers to touch his growing stomach. He felt them move under his hand and then he felt them inside. There had been so much pain before that he hadn't truly felt them. His body ached still but they were ok. He had heard bits and pieces of the conversation that went on in his room, too tired to open his eyes and his body demanding that he stay sleep because it was the first time since he'd started this journey with Relena that he'd really slept. He'd heard enough to know that he was carrying two babies - twins, and that he was going to live.

The babies moved and he shakily caressed his stomach through the cover, _We're going to live_.

"Um… here. You look like you could use it." Duo bounced lightly from one foot to another. He offered Millardo a smile and received a slightly unsteady one in return.

Millardo took the water from the sprightly young man, looking him over with a knowing quirk to his lips. He sat up and looked into dark violet eyes, "My thanks to you little cousin."

Duo looked at him quizzically and half nodded, figuring the word was used commonly in this place. Thus, having a meaning like the calling someone a brother of no blood relation, which equated brother to friend.

"Duo's fine." Still holding the bowl and ignoring the rumble in his own stomach, Duo scratched the back of his head as he looked around. "Um, I dunno where that girl went but … what I mean is, is it ok to leave you here like this?"

Duo gestured at the bare room with its few chairs and table, then the packs huddled in the corner on the floor. He turned back to the long haired man whose face was blank with a stony look in his eyes.

"Duo," Duo jumped slightly at the icy tone in the long haired man's voice. "Come here."

"Why?" Duo asked, not liking being told what to do. Not liking the man's tone period. He understood the man was pregnant and pregnant people had unpredictable moods but still he wasn't going to take any flack people felt like dishing out at him.

Millardo sighed at Duo's defensive tone, his body poised for flight and tried for a smile which crumbled at the sight of the engraved boots on Duo's feet. He sighed again and looked into Duo's eyes and made himself relax, "Just come here, please."

Duo inched closer, stopping an arm's length away and Millardo laughed, rubbing his temple.

"I guess that's fine. Just… Do you understand about my condition?"

Duo frowned at him, giving him the 'duh?' expression, before he nodded.

"Can you tell me? Tell me what my condition is?"

"You're pregnant." Duo shrugged and rolled the mixed fruit around in the bowl.

"And you're ok with that?" At Duo's confused look he explained further, "You don't think it's strange that I am? That it's possible?"

Duo shook his head, "What are you talking about? Why would I think that?"

Millardo beckon to him with his free hand and Duo came to his bedside, curious. Faster than he thought a pregnant person capable, Millardo grabbed him and pulled him down across his lap. Duo blinked owlishly, most of his face pressed against Millardo's covered stomach.

"Hey!" Duo barely held on to the bowl and tensed at the hand on the back of his neck.

"If you don't want to hurt them, then I suggest you be still." Millardo grunted out, moving Duo's hair aside to look then feeling Duo's neck and into his hair at the back of his head. "No scar." Millardo said relieved, petting Duo's head then stopping at the back of his neck.

"Oh no, not that again!" Duo quickly sat up, scooted down the bed as he eyed Millardo crossly.

"What?" Millardo asked, making no move to stop him if Duo chose to get up or leave.

"That man with the funny nose checked and found nothing! I don't know why you people keep doing that! I have rights you know! You jerks just need to keep your hands to yourselves!" Duo half shouted and Millardo scowled.

"So Senjit checked you and he found nothing?" Millardo asked his anger becoming curiosity as his eyes roved over Duo.

"Oh no, don't you even think it!" Duo glared at Millardo, tense and not liking the way Millardo was staring at him.

_My clothes are staying on damn it! Even if I have to fight this guy to get out of here.._. Duo's cheeks flushed at the thought, a pout settling on his lips.

Millardo found he had to look away or he'd have laughed at Duo's expression. Even still, he couldn't hold the amusement back from his voice as he spoke, "It's good you didn't get forced into the tour. A circular mark would've been on the back of your neck if they had drugged and conditioned you." Millardo righted the cup at his side and moved away from the wet spot.

"The brainwashing thing they do?" Duo asked as he rubbed unconsciously at the back of his neck.

Millardo nodded, "I'm thankful for my sister. She – Relena undid most of the damage from the tour without knowing it when she healed my injury. The reasons why I asked you all those questions before was because the tour takes away your memories making you a loyal drone to the monarch and his captains."

"Like Ethan." Duo said nodding and understanding why Ethan treated him like he did. It wasn't that he didn't know him, he just didn't remember.

Millardo said nothing more at Duo's sad expression. He started picking at the threaded x's that held a lock of his hair and signified him a eunuch of high station, a tutelary. Even though the priests did nothing overt to resist Natrob, they had his gratitude for keeping his sister safe and for helping him disguise himself.

"What is your name?" Millardo had picked free most of the weaving when Duo asked him this.

"You do not know me." Duo gave him an apologetic look and Millardo averted his eyes. He already knew as much when he didn't get a reaction to Relena's name. "In another time, I was called Millardo or even Millie." He said the last with a sour twist of a smile.

Duo held back his snicker, feeling childish but the nickname made him want to laugh. Especially since Millardo had said it with such a straight and gloomy face that just didn't seem to fit the man before him.

_Millie._ He did snicker then.

Millardo looked at Duo sharply. Millardo's fine pale brows were cocked as if asking him with his eyes what he was laughing about. A smile appeared slowly on Millardo's face when Duo smiled at him.

"It is the name of the person I was in the past. I have done many things that my former self would've never done. Allowed things to happen…" Millardo's voice trailed off, a pained look took up residence on his face, stealing his smile as he stared into Duo's smiling one. "I'm your cousin Zechs."

"Ok, Millie." Duo smiled brightly and as easily as Millardo's smile had gone it reappeared. "Don't stay cooped up in here too long you'll brood and start thinking everything is your fault... It never was. We do what we must to survive."

Duo got up, looking a little dazed. He smiled again and handed Millardo the large bowl of fruit with a departing wave.

Millardo watched his light hearted cousin go. He wondered if Duo's smile would be as bright if his hands were as stained as his were. No, he could never wish his burden on others.

Millardo sat back against the headboard and stared thoughtfully into the bowl of fruit in his lap. He blamed himself for Maheran's downfall and for falling for the enemy's ruse, his smiling face and strength... He was his one and he had let his budding feelings for Treize lead him astray.

Although Treize had tricked him, he still felt the fault lay with him. Treize had asked him to talk it over with him first and gullibly, he trusted him. He said yes. When he got there Treize marked him, took him prisoner, and left him on the outskirts of Maheran in a hut. By the time he had gotten free, the white stone was rising and he knew that he was too late. He was too far away to get to the main council houses so he took up the sword, and used what Treize had taught him to cut down the Nartob soldiers chasing his people.

_There's so much blood on these hands_. Millardo's hand shook as he rubbed his stomach. He would work to make sure that the world these two came to see would be one where they could be free.

O----------------------OoO----------------------O

Duo leaned against the wall to the side of the entry covering and took a deep before exhaling it slowly. Weird wasn't the first word that came to mind for him when he thought about what had just happened between him and Millardo.

"I have family still. A cousin!" He said it aloud, but not loud enough to be heard by the rooms' gloomy occupant. He wanted to reassure himself that this wasn't another dream of forgotten memory.

Duo tilted his head back against the wall and watched the door flap out the corners of his eyes. He decided he'd wait until somebody came to stay with Millardo, he didn't think the pregnant man should be left alone in there for very long. People greeted him, smiling without any wary looks. They moved about the tunnels like they did in Maheran, carrying out daily routines and children playing without any reservations. Yet, he had a feeling there were not many here.

Time slipped by, his stomach growling angrily at him brought him out of his near trance like stare at the wall. Two girls laughed at him in passing but he took it in stride with a cheeky smile that made one girl blush. They stopped a few strides from him, the blushing one pushing her friend toward him as he watched them curiously. She started towards him then looked past him, bowed low and rushed away.

Curiosity peaked, Duo looked to his left and met the odd eyes of the wielder who attended him before in the company of the girl who'd threaten him. They both carried bowls of something that just had to be edible with such delicious smells coming from them.

"Good morning," Relena said to him, her smile quaint.

Duo arched a brow but smiled nonetheless, disturbed by her but not willing to let it show. Quatre nodded to him with a welcoming smile that made the uncomfortable feeling ease.

Relena stopped at the flap, "Duo, I appreciate you staying with him. Will you be leaving?"

Duo sighed, his smile becoming strained. It bothered him more than a little bit that people he didn't know knew his name.

"No. I'd like to stay here, if that is alright with you?" Duo looked to Quatre and took note of his pleased expression.

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

"That's good, see you soon." Relena gave them a thoughtful smile before entering her brother's room.

Duo frowned at her and approached Quatre with a hopeful smile easily curling his lips in the opposite direction.

"Is that for me?" Duo licked his lips, closing the space between himself, the bowl and Quatre.

Quatre smiled, his pale cheeks coloring slightly as he handed it to Duo. "I'll show you to your room."

"Ok." Duo said already shoveling the food into his mouth, sticky rice and egg bits smeared over one cheek. He jogged over to the blonde's side, and kept pace with him along the twisting tunnel paths.

"You don't have to you know." Duo said, and then swallowed the food he'd packed against the inside of one cheek. He felt really comfortable with Quatre and he felt like he belonged here.

"I know. I do this because I want to." Quatre smiled again and that cemented his decision about this place.

They walked on until they passed by a wide cavern that housed farms, rich green expanses that looked more prosperous than what he'd seen above ground in Maheran. He stood there staring and jumped when a great beast of burden with a thick metal ring through its snout licked the side of his face from jaw to temple.

"Ugh! By the One!" Everyone in the vicinity slowed in their work at Duo's shout then stood still at the sound of Quatre's laughter.

Duo's empty bowl clattered to the floor and he crouched low, wiping away the thick bovine slobber from his face. The bovine snorted stepping closer. Duo saw it lift one thick hairy hoof and threw his hands up, "Back! Back! What else do you say to beasties like these?!"

Quatre laughed, his hand bracing his stomach. "That's no way to speak to one of our residents who has an interest in you!"

Duo glared at the bovine, backing up slowly until he hit the wall next to Quatre. He grabbed Quatre's hand with his slobber covered one while he held the other up to fend off the beasts' intended advance.

"Whoa! You just stay right where you are or I'll have my friend here," he held up their joined hands, "blow you away."

"I'll not." Quatre laughed, and then made a face with his hand covering his mouth at the feel of Duo's gooey hand squeezing his.

"But Quat!" Duo half whined, standing shoulder to shoulder with Quatre. He angled his head toward Quatre's, whispering, "Can't you make the wind pull his tail or something? The beastie's trying to make me a Duo-lick!"

"A-a?!" Quatre canted his head toward Duo, their heads brushing, Quatre's bright and laughing smile reflected keenly in his eyes.

Duo found he liked that look best on the blonde. He smiled, forgetting the threat of bovine slobber.

"Pardon," Duo turned away and smiled at the man as he hooked a muscled arm around the bovine's thick neck and pulled on the thick metal ring to steer the animal away from Duo. "Me beast, must be smelling yer breakfast," the caretaker gestured to the over turned bowl with a hardy laugh as he petted the bovine's wet nose.

"Thought ye'd ask for some didn't ya girl?" The musky man added with a smile, his eyes landing frequently on Quatre.

"Umm… girl. Right. It's ok." Duo said giving the man a one shoulder shrug, wary of the bovine inching closer to Quatre. He glanced at Quatre's and watched his bright expression quickly become somber.

Quatre inclined his head slightly and waved.

Duo wondered who he was waving at and blinked, no one was working anymore. They were all watching Quatre.

"Sorry to interrupt. Please continue."

Duo watched them return to work. Quatre pulled him forward into a walk with him. He'd forgotten that their hands were still joined and Duo felt the hair under his braid prickle on the back of his neck. He resisted the urge to look back and see who was staring at him... at them.

"They're jealous of you. Not many are at my side, as you are, unaided." Quatre's voice cut across his thoughts as Quatre sent him a half smirk over his shoulder.

"Oh?" Duo added curiously still holding Quatre's hand even though they were walking at an easy pace.

"They think you are to be my bonded." Quatre said coyly, his smirk growing as he swung their hands a little and trying to keep from laughing at the quizzical curl of emotion bubbling up in Duo's curiosity. And knew Duo hadn't caught on to what he was saying.

"Oh?" Duo repeated, guilelessly then a few strides later, Duo pulled his hand away. "Oh!"

Quatre snickered quietly to himself, waiting for Duo to walk with him again. He put on an innocently sad face at the feel of Duo's embarrassment.

"Do I..." Duo stared wide eyed at the blush on Quatre's face. Quatre's downcast eyes were ringed by long lashes nearly as light as his hair. Then he raised those slightly glowing aquamarine eyes to him, "Do I not appeal to you?"

"No... I mean yes." He swallowed thickly, his mouth dry at the sudden heat pooling low in his stomach. He was surprised that someone so powerful would be interested in him. But there was also Heero.

_Heero, powerful? That cocky bastard! It__'s all just attitude with him__. _ Duo frowned, the thought lost its sting somewhere in its conception and ended up making him wonder what had happen to the man. Duo caught a flicker of something flash across Quatre's face, the blush was still there but he looked thoughtful.

"Quat-" Duo half began before he had to catch the blonde wielder, who slumped forward against him even though Duo was holding him up by his arms.

Quatre's head hit Duo's shoulder then rolled across it to his rest in the space between his neck and shoulder. Quatre's peach skin was pale and his forehead clammy against Duo's neck.

"Quatre, are you all right?" Duo asked him, looping an arm behind his back when he was sure Quatre's legs would keep him upright.

"Mmgh. Just tired... Let me rest a bit." Quatre rasped out in a strangled whisper.

"Yea? Ok, take as long as you need." Duo leaned against the tunnel wall, stroking the top of Quatre's head and hugging him. Quatre's eyes were tense narrow slits and his brows furrowed as he fought with the pain.

_He's been hiding it all along…_ Duo sighed, resting his head against the side of Quatre's head, _we are alike, you and me_.

People passed them, a few stared but they didn't recognize Quatre for who he was. There was something, a rapport perhaps, that made doing things and even trusting Quatre so easy to do. He could understand why Quatre wouldn't want his people to know he was ill. He'd seen how the farm folk down here had watched him, eyes pinning him like a bug on a window. Duo couldn't help his sympathetic shiver at the thought of being the recipient of that kind of attention on a non-stop basis. He'd felt a little of it when they had left the area hand in hand and he wasn't sure he wanted that kind of scrutiny again.

_Is this something all wielders have to deal with? Does the One experience this too?_ Duo wondered, his fingers twisting in a lock of Quatre's hair.

Duo lowered his head back to Quatre's, his long bangs shielding more of the blonde's face and ran his hand through the fine, soft hair at the base of Quatre's neck. They were pressed close enough to each other that the passing people mostly dismissed them as a couple sneaking away for a little time alone and that was fine with Duo if it gave Quatre more time to recover.

_I wonder if he was serious about being bound to me._ He wasn't against the idea of being Quatre's bonded. As if in answer, Quatre slumped against him in a way that brought them flushed against each other and Quatre's lips where a wisp away from his jaw. Quatre's every breath sent hot tingles of sensation from the sensitive skin at the hollow just below his earlobe and the hinge of his jaw. If he turned his head, the corners of their mouths would just barely touch...

"Quat!" Duo jerked against the blonde at the shriek and Quatre laughed weakly, hugging Duo to him.

"Enters the reason very few people approach me. You'd think…" Quatre started breathlessly, lips sending more pleasurable tingles across Duo's skin, "that she was in charge here with the way she treats me…"

Duo smiled guiltily and conspiringly. He remembered the golden haired woman at Quatre's side from one of his fevered memories. He watched the small woman charged through people like they were not even there. Some immediately hurried along, and others were forced to move by her stride alone - making him realize she was a force to be reckoned with. She marched over to them and Duo caught a glimpse of Wu Fei who parted silently from Thecla's side and started clearing away spectators from the tunnel with merely a look.

"Hey." Duo said affably with a smile but Thecla paid him no heed, staring at the two them and frowning. Duo raised his eyebrows in surprise when the woman grabbed Quatre by the arm and yanked him away from him. "Hey!"

Duo grabbed her hand by the wrist, the same place she held Quatre's now, while Quatre kept his other arm around Duo.

"Quatre…" She gritted out cutting her eyes to Duo then back to him.

Duo glared at her, then smiled, it was a smile without feeling. He suddenly felt cold and the need to _do_ something more prickled at him but he held it in check, wary of it. Not fully grasping what more the urge meant for him to do.

Thecla started to slap Duo's hand but stopped at the numbness radiating out from his hand. She looked up at him, confused and suddenly unnerved by Duo's eyes. They were so dark that no light reflected through them and she couldn't see herself in them. They made her feel as if there was something else there behind his eyes. She let go of Quatre and stopped herself from shaking Duo's hand off until he let go of her.

Duo's smile dropped away and he looked at her, frowning at her behavior. Had his first impression of her been wrong? He leaned back against the wall, Quatre followed. Duo eyed her for a long moment before one brow arched slightly, _Jealousy? _

He heard his own voice before he considered his words. "Why would you-"

"I'm sorry." She cut Duo off, it was little more than a whisper but it carried weight. She rubbed at her wrist where Duo's hand had been, the skin was cold to the touch and tingled as feeling slowly returned. "Quatre's just so stubborn sometimes. He has to rest and it's so hard to get him to stay put long enough so all my healing can continue to work."

Thecla's face colored at the admission, but Duo had the feeling that he was right about her being jealous.

"We can't lose him." She added softly, stepping closer to them.

Duo sighed, "What's wrong with him?"

Thecla held her burning wrist against her thigh. "Wielders who use their ability too much suffer damage to their bodies... He would've been fine if whatever that girl did hadn't taken from him too."

Duo gave her a quizzical look.

"How is he?" She asked, changing the subject and probably sensing he would ask more questions she didn't seem willing to answer.

"He's in a lot of pain from what I can tell." Duo smiled down at the snort of air against his neck.

"I can hear still." Quatre reminded.

"I'll have Wu Fei take him back to his room."

"No, I don't want to go back." Quatre said in a half whisper.

"You are acting like a child." Thecla admonished, "Wu Fei, carry him if you need to."

Duo tensed, his smile collapsing into a cynical smirk. He had thought the woman had been sincere and had went along with the teasing but the disdainful cut of her eyes came again. Her hazel eyes moving heatedly from him to Quatre made him believe otherwise. Duo started to move forward but Quatre stayed him with a hand to his stomach.

"Thecla?!" Quatre, irritated, turned to show her his displeased face.

She gave him an indulgent smile, "Since you don't listen to me, then why should I listen to you?"

Quatre pouted, "Because I'm your leader."

Duo did smile at that; glad too that Quatre was feeling better.

"Then act like one." Thecla said her tone firm and reproachful. "Be conscientious enough to know that when you take unnecessary risks you not only risk killing yourself but also risk the safety of all the people of Acai."

Quatre was strangely silent. Duo, personally, didn't like any of it. It was as if Quatre was a prisoner in his own city.

Quatre nodded to her much like Duo had seen him do with the bovine caretaker back by the farms. "I understand. I'll go rest."

Thecla smiled, the whole of her relaxing and Duo wanted to slap that smile right off her face.

She inclined her head and turned to the shapeshifter, "Wu Fei will-"

"That'll be unnecessary." Quatre told her, grabbing Duo's hand and pulling him into a brisk walk past Thecla.

"Quatre?!" She glared, her legs already carrying her after them and her hand outstretched as if she meant to grab one of them.

Duo knew from her angry strut that that one would be him. Duo followed her with his eyes, watching her get closer. Quatre stopped suddenly and Duo nearly walked into him.

"Do not presume," Quatre spun to face Thecla who stopped at his sharp regard of her, "that you can dictate every matter in my life. Concern yourself, not with whom I take to my bed, but to your own duties! It is enough that I'm complying with your request." With that said, he walked away with Duo in tow leaving a stunned Thecla and smirking Wu Fei behind them.

Quatre kept them going at a steady pace, pass a rocky enclave where Duo glimpsed Newt lounging lazily on a high perch and through a round dining area. Duo felt the weight of eyes on them again but this time it didn't bother him as much. He shook off the feeling and snagged an apple off a table of fruit. He was half way done with it when Quatre spoke to him.

"Your room." Quatre said, pointing to a dwelling on his right with a mat of weaved reeds and a large basket of goods set in front of the entryway. Duo glanced at the cloth covering the entryway in astonishment. He'd never had a place of his own. But Quatre pulled him toward the next dwelling before he could give it anymore thought, "Here's mine."

Duo stared at the rooms' interior as he entered at Quatre's behest. It wasn't by any means extravagant. Not at all what Duo expected a ruler to live in; Heero's rooms came close. The room was plain. There was a basket of discarded things back by the entryway, a comfortable looking bed with an open chest of clothes at its foot and a cushioned indention in the far wall. The dwelling gave Duo the feeling of impermanence and said little of the blonde wielder crossing the space in front of him.

"I heard..." Duo started, slouching and crossing his arms, holding them both at the elbows, "you intend to bed me?" Duo said the last with a smirk.

Quatre was breathing heavily when he stopped in the middle of the room, the rush to get there finally catching up to him. "You didn't have to come with me here."

Duo shrugged his smirk still in place, "I don't really mind, it wasn't like you actually meant it."

Quatre frowned, turning to Duo fully. "But isn't this what upsets you about Heero? I was toying with you, using and manipulating you out there?"

Duo was surprised and hesitant to confirm what Quatre had said because he wasn't sure how the blonde could possibly know what he'd been thinking. He shrugged again straightening from his easy slouch, "It's different."

_Because I really wanted to go to bed with you._ Duo thought, curious to see Quatre's reaction.

Quatre's frown became quizzical, his expression thoughtful as though he was reading something, "It's different?"

_So you aren't a mind reader_. Duo smiled and stepped forward, watching Quatre's eyes track the movement but his pupils remain unchanged. "Why do you not acknowledge that you can't see?"

"What?" Quatre became paler but his expression hardly changed, a smile played on his lips that lacked the good humor it suggested. "I'm not sure what you mean?"

Duo brought one hand up and taped his chin in thought, "Well, I guess, not the way that most people can." Duo tilted his head, ducking in lowly to catch Quatre's eyes when Quatre turned away from him. "There's a slight glow, you know like Heero. But you only see it if you really look."

Quatre laughed it off, pushing Duo back when he continued to stare into his eyes, "Duo."

"Aha! See! Right there!" Duo smiled widely, catching Quatre's chin and tilting his head.

Quatre glowered at him, taking Duo's hand calmly away from his face.

Duo smiled sheepishly, cupping the back of Quatre's cold hand with his other one. "Sorry, I'd like to think I'm good at reading people, I guess I got carried away."

Quatre bit his lip, and looked away from him.

Duo could see, even though Quatre had a calm and contemplative expression on his face, Quatre was struggling with something. He pulled Quatre around and jumped backward onto the bed. He bounced until he was all the way onto the bed. Duo leaned back on his elbows, his long legs spread, his thick braid snaking across his chest with the frayed end resting by his belly button where his tunic had ridden up.

"So that announcement about bedding me wasn't true?" Duo teased, his slightly kicking feet giving away how nervous he truly felt about it.

Quatre smiled, moving tiredly to the chest of clothes and throwing some at Duo. "Yes."

All movement stopped from the bed but Quatre didn't need that to tell him about how Duo felt when Duo's jittery emotions came clearly to him. Quatre striped off his tunic and felt nervous fascination edge towards uncertainty and mistrust. "You can bed down on the _bed_ since you like it so much." Quatre slipped on a worn robe and tied it shut before he dropped his pants, "I, on the other hand, prefer the den which is where I'll be sleeping until your bed is made and brought to your room."

Duo stared at Quatre for a long moment before he dropped back onto the bed. "Good," Duo said in a relieved breath.

Quatre did laugh then, "Come on, we should bathe before I rest-" Quatre frowned at the sudden flare of distress he got from Duo, "but you don't have to join me, it's just so you know how to get there. You are free to go wherever ... Duo? "

Duo smiled up at the ceiling, "Are we talking about a bathing area that's small and not so deep?"

Quatre nodded, picking apart the emotional clot screaming at him from the braided man.

"We're talking about a place that isn't, ya know?"

"No, I don't know what you mean." Quatre shook his head, but he could feel that Duo was calming down.

"Um... Private?"

Quatre arched a brow and gave Duo a smirk, "Duo, we're not going to do anything. Really. The alcove I commonly use lends us some privacy and occasionally someone may walk through but women and men use it at different times."

Duo shook his head, threw on the robe over his clothes and pulled Quatre to the entryway.

"I'm not worried about that." He gave Quatre a saucy grin and Quatre smiled at the mixed emotions of ease, excitement and mischievous that downplayed the nervous fear Duo still worried about. Quatre kicked about for his soft soled shoes before Duo could pull him out into the hall.

"Lead the way!" Duo announced to the empty hall and Quatre shook his head, still feeling Duo's trepidation but now not so sure of its source.

Quatre smiled at Duo as he slipped on his shoes and showed him a wall that wasn't. It was a side corridor that led to a descending walkway. It was angled so that no matter the lighting or shadow, the entry to the corridor was hidden without closer inspection.

Duo smiled back, following Quatre down the walkway with nervous anticipation.

Tbc…


	9. Chapter IX

Unbeta'd  
Italics ~ thoughts  
Warnings: Q-ball torture, MXM goodiness, nudity, suggestive content  
Pairings: eventual 1x2/2x1, and the pen dabbles around a bit

Input/feedback much appreciated.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the sexies in Gundam Wing AC, I just love to help them live a little.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

IX

He opened his eyes to a dark room and moved around with ease, pulling off his clothes before slipping into his well worn robe. He tripped and smiled to himself before kicking the clothes Duo had worn back toward the bed. He considered telling the carpenter that there was little need to hurry in making Duo's bed. His guest was messy but he made him smile and laugh even though it hurt.

Quatre had no explanation for it except he agreed with Duo's term for describing their relationship… He chuckled to himself. He was the first person Quatre had seriously considered having one with but what they had was friendship and that was definitely _different_. There were no false pretenses between them. It was the good kind of different because in the week that Duo had been in his company, he actually had the chance to live instead of existing for a purpose.

And now he was being mischievous.

He snuck out of his room quietly, slipping past his guards who stood at both ends of the hall. Guards, he knew were in place to ensure that he stayed in his room since Thecla found it even harder to track his whereabouts nowadays.

_Disguises._ He smirked, and almost gave himself away when a laugh tried to slip out. With Duo's help, they escaped out from under Wu Fei and Thecla's vigilant watch and had fun doing it. The people of Acai even helped on a few occasions.

_Wu Fei__'__s not so bad_, Duo and he actually intended to include Wu Fei in one of their escapes.

_Thecla._ Quatre shook his head, she tried so hard to be everything for him but all he could do was thank her.

He slipped into the hidden corridor that led to a down slopping walkway. He was tired of resting. He didn't want to sleep anymore. He doubted he could, even if he wanted to. He felt the tingle of warmth beneath his eyes then lighting over several areas of his body. He knew Thecla had healed him while he slept, repairing the damage his wielding gift was having on him. This, in itself, explained Duo's absence. Quatre felt a little guilty for not telling him how bad off he was and for not being able to stay conscious long enough to diffuse some of Thecla's ire the night before.

The most visible damage was the dark circles under his eyes and the bruises on his body where blood vessels had burst or muscles had torn under his skin from the strain. Those things she could heal but not his eyes.

He was but one person, yet he held the power of thousands. The great maker had never meant for just one person to wield and he was wearing away because of it.

Quatre came to the bathing chamber where the lichen or 'glow fuzz,' Duo had said once as many of the children called them, filled the place with light. The murmur of his people at play and relaxing in the baths filled his ears. He took a vacant side alcove, in need of a little privacy. Once inside, he let his robe fall to the floor, revealing his thin muscled body with tracery lines from fading dark bruises on various places of his body. He was the height of a twenty year old man.

He was a twenty year old man and had to remind himself for he heard the whispers all too often. He was as tall as Heero but many of his people referred to his as their boy king, the wind child because of his innocent face. It mattered very little to him because he'd decided long go he'd protect his people until there was nothing left of him.

Yet things were not so bleak, Relena's brother carried in him a wind wielder. He'd felt it! Quatre smiled as he stepped into the waist deep, warm and turbulent water. He wouldn't wish the same sightless fate on the child. He would try to live as long as he could so the child could at least see when it was born.

He sighed and sank down into the water until he felt it ripple beneath his chin. It would be hard for him to keep that promise without his bonded. Thecla had offered. Many had offered but none of them would be able to hold what he had to give them alone. And he didn't intend to have multiple people bonded to him...

It would be like they were providing a service, but still the very idea of doing something like that bothered him. Quatre's bonded would be almost like a vessel, able to wield Quatre's element to a small degree and in part, diffuse what he'd called forth in excess. Then he'd be stable, balanced so his body wouldn't be struggling with his ability while it tried to heal.

There was no one like that.

Thecla was close but if he let her, let anyone be bound to him, try to balance him, they would die.

Quatre blew bubbles into the water, staring at the faintly glowing presences of the lichen that lit many crevices of Acai.

Water was abundant in Acai but Duo was afraid of it.

Quatre didn't mind his company in this private alcove. He welcomed Duo's nonjudgmental, undemanding presence. The more Duo became familiar with the city, the more relaxed and carefree he became. He was a relief as well as a concern. Even though Duo tried to cover up his fear with cheerful banter, Quatre could still feel it.

Quatre gazed at the glowing presence of his hands, feeling the ripples he made in the water but not seeing any movement. He watched his fingers move and felt the water rolling over and parting around them. He smiled, no one could tell that he couldn't see normally not with the sight, his empathy and inflections he picked up from people's voices helping him balance out the illusion.

_But Duo could. Possibly Heero and Relena too but they were not so sure about me_.

A puzzle this Duo was and along with what Quatre could see of his presence. Duo's presence was as bright as his own which meant he was a wielder but it was different, augmented somehow.

Quatre recalled that Duo had mentioning something about the tours in Maheran and how they stole peoples' memories but he hadn't been a part of it. Duo certainly didn't know about the power he possessed or at least didn't remember. Quatre shrugged, closing his eyes; there were a lot of ways one could lose their memories. He decided that Duo would come with them to the mountains, and he'd help him if he needed it as his memories came back.

Quatre sank beneath the surface letting the jet of water that fed the small pool massage his back. He relaxed, enjoying the tingles the water jet sent down his legs as it rushed past them and back out a similar shoot at the bottom of the pool. He opened his eyes beneath the water and saw the fractured presence of someone – a man in the alcove watching him.

Quatre calmly surfaced, his hair in face, hiding that his eyes were narrowly open as he sat in the water and watched his watcher. He'd forgotten that one way to get to the bathing chamber was through this alcove but it wasn't used often. From the direction the man was moving, he had come from that direction. He had to work to keep his face calm because he felt nothing from this man. Unlike Heero who was mute to Quatre until he agitated him and Wu Fei who was to a degree muffled from him, this man gave off nothing.

There was no one like that in Acai.

Quatre quickly sat up feigning surprise when the man's foot shifted across the floor.

_Intentional._ He knew that the movement had to be, for whatever purpose, this man wanted him to know that he was there.

"Sorry, was I too long?" Quatre pushed the hair out of his face and opted to stare off to the left of the man before he reached for his robe. It would be useless to act like he could see with this one. It troubled him that one of Heero's men could have gotten into his city without the notice of anyone.

"No." He heard the man say but it held a question in it. "I can just come back."

"No, no. Please stay so you can have your turn, I was leaving anyway just a little lost in thought." He offered a smile that turned troubled when his robe was not where he'd left it.

"It's not here?" He whispered to himself, turning his back fully to the man. He ran his hands over the stony surface of the floor, unconcerned that the water hardly covered the swell of his buttocks.

Quatre stopped his search when a tinge of amused interest drifted to him but it wasn't coming from the direction of the man. That was when he realized that he was bending over out of the pool and nearly on his knees on the floor. He dropped back down into the water, a hot blush coloring his face.

"You-"

"Here you go." Startled, Quatre felt the soft fabric of his robe brush across his face. He remembered the man being at his left, where should still be because he hadn't heard him move. Quatre's bottom lip snuck out, he couldn't really recall how far from the pool he'd left his robe.

"Thank you." He muttered, what else could he say? He hadn't seen him move it. He hadn't seen him move at all!

_Why would he do such a thing?_ But he was sure the man had, to ensure he carried no weapons. Quatre stood and walked out of the water, forcing the man to continue to hold the robe in front of him and step back to accommodate him as he stepped forward. Quatre smirked to himself at the curl of surprise he picked up, and it was from the man of that he was certain now. He felt a little confused by the tracery wisps of emotions that he could barely feel just beneath his calm exterior. It enticed him, drew him and he couldn't stop himself from moving forward. His body urged him closer.

_Proximity_. The word whispered through his mind and he understood why he hadn't felt him before. The man still had the robe in his hands when Quatre, drawn to him, forced his hands back. The robe rested across Quatre's toned chest, the man holding it in place but that mattered little. Quatre was more interested in the curl of feelings he could almost read from the man. It was curiosity. It was longing, desire.

_Completion_...

The man's verdant eyes looked back into Quatre's half open ones and Tamien forgot about what he had come there for. The aquamarine eyes held his attention so much that he wasn't aware of the air stirring around them, shifting his bang over both his eyes.

Quatre leaned in closer and instead of moving back, Tamien stayed still. Neither of them aware that the only thing separating them from Quatre's wet body was the robe Tamien still held for him. Quatre tilted his head up toward Tamien and watched his presence flicker before his eyes, it was not so strange that he didn't look like any other person but he couldn't look away. They were so close that they shared breathes.

Quatre drifted toward that pull. It was the first time that everything in him was calmed without Thecla having to suppress it back. Even that had required some kind of contact from her.

_Suppressor_. A body knew what it needed and he felt helpless but to follow, the pull was so strong.

Fingers sent a shock of feeling to his senses. He'd felt fine without the need of physical touch, but this was so sharp that he could feel every bit of skin those fingers touched. They trailed along his right arm, from shoulder to elbow where a smattering of freckles swirled in no definitive shape to the passing eye but Quatre knew it was his birthmark.

It was his mark as a wielder and suddenly for an insane moment he saw everything in the alcove, the man with half a bang sweeping over one side of his handsome face and his vibrant green eyes. Tamien's head dipped forward and Quatre's eyes widen before he quickly pulled away, snatching his robe from him and everything went dark.

_That can't be possible. _ Quatre looked down at his hands, and found he couldn't see anything but he could feel them shaking. He quickly slipped back into the sight, fisting the robe in one hand.

He could see!

He had_ seen_ everything!

For a moment, he could see!

Quatre jerkily put the robe on, his face aflame as he looked over his shoulder at Tamien who he sensed was confused, his hand poised where Quatre's arm had been.

"You-" This time there was no accusation in it and Quatre found he didn't know what to say. He shakily pushed his mostly dry hair out his face before resting his face in his hand. He smiled bitterly, and with a shake of his head walked confidently toward the exit.

_This man is working for Nartob. This man is an enemy but he's also with Heero. _Quatre's lips pressed into a firm line, his expression grave. He wouldn't let that influence his decisions or let it dictate to him who he could trust.

_I'll have the guards come and remove him._ A hand grabbed his arm and jerked him around to face the green eyed man. "No more pretending."

_He's right_. Quatre knew he had been to a degree, pretending. Quatre frowned up at the man and shrugged his arm free of his hand. "I'll send someone to take you to Heero."

"No, it should be you."

Quatre gave the man an innocent smile and felt the man's airy puzzlement. He knew that his smile threw people off about his intentions. It was the same with this man, the wind swirled around them before encircling Tamien alone. It blocked him when he reached out to grab Quatre and dumped the green eyed man into the pool.

Quatre's smile morphed into a true one as he tilted his head slightly to the green eyed man when he resurfaced. He watched Tamien struggle with the wind and surprisingly, the force behind it disappeared.

"Again, someone else will be here to escort you. My Apologies," Quatre smirked at the drenched man as he started to climb out of the pool. Quatre twitched a pale brow and Tamien was thrown back into the water. "I must insist that you remain there for the time being."

Tamien sputtered to the surface and laughed. He came to the edge of the pool and rested his head on his crossed arms.

"Fine. I'll do as you wish, moje milé."

Quatre made a face at the unfamiliar words and only sensing more of Tamien's airy amusement with their use. Quatre wished he could see the expression on Tamien's face but he wasn't willing to risk someone, even a possible enemy, to temporarily have his sight back.

A warm prickling feeling from his nose drew his attention. He reached up to wipe it away and felt more of it drip across his mouth. He stumbled backward and caught himself on a wall as a wave of dizziness enveloped him. A metallic smell filled his nose and more warmth ran down his lips.

_Blood._ He realized as darkness took away his sight.

_I was bleeding. _He groaned the next moment, his body felt so tight and his head hurt from the flood of emotions from the people just beyond the wall of the alcove.

_I broke her seal… Thecla…_ He needed to get to her.

As if in answer to his unspoken plea, he felt hands on his face, cold, wet hands. They were pinching his nose closed and tilting his head back. Quatre grimaced, opening his eyes and seeing Tamien's blurry presence above him. He tried to shake off his hands. He'd never liked the taste of blood in his mouth but it was no use, the man had a firm hold on his head. He could hear the wind, a part of it felt as if it was unfurling in his chest, making his back arch and his heart pound in a way that had only happened once before... when his mother had died.

It had been the same day he'd killed Rashid.

A sharp pain slashed across the upper half of his chest. It felt like his chest was going to burst open. Quatre spasmed on the floor as hands tried to still him. He gurgled a scream and coughed hard. It left a coppery tinge on his tongue.

"Thecla..." was all he could rasp out before his throat refused to work.

"Your bonded? Where is she?"

Quatre didn't hear Tamien. He was more concerned about how his voice had been swept away when it shouldn't have. Quatre realized then that the wind in his ears wasn't some imagining of his pain addled mind. He gritted his teeth and tried to regain control of the wind in the alcove. His people were just beyond its walls and they didn't deserve to suffer because he chose to be foolish and showy.

He tasted more blood but he pushed on, one eye slipping close and then the other. Tamien shook him, stopping him from slipping off. This time the green eyed man's emotions came to him clearly, slicing out all the others. He was angry with him and concerned.

"What are you doing?! Don't use your ability!" Quatre looked at Tamien's presence through blurry slits and wondered why it didn't work like earlier. He couldn't see him but the man was touching him?

Then it suddenly made sense to him. The seal was broken so whatever suppression the man could do just by proximity wasn't enough. Touching it seemed wouldn't come close to enough.

Quatre wondered if Thecla would miss him.

Tamien shook him again, "Listen to me, let me help you." The man said earnestly.

Quatre looked to him, confusion plain on his face before the blurry presence pressed down on him and kissed him.

Quatre stared blankly up into the bright contours that defined the soldier's head. Thecla had seldom kissed him to balance him, only when he had lost consciousness a few times but still she preferred to touch him or hold him to take it into herself. And he'd make sure she never got to the point where the sharing got too intense for her. He could always tell by the intensity of her emotions, one in particular being arousal. She had told him once that her eyes dilated and told him not to worry but Quatre remembered.

He would never forget Rashid. Rashid had returned to them with news that his father had been killed and his mother a captive of Nartob. She had been killed years later before they could rescue her and Rashid had been there with him when his power grew because of it. Rashid had held him and took it into himself... more than he should have.

Quatre hadn't known what Rashid had done for him until he woke up. He found his own body calm, his abilities suppressed within manageable levels, but it was like the world was muffled. That was when he noticed Rashid. He was still, sitting upright in the chair, his arms half cradling him with all the color gone from his brown eyes, his pupils blown and his body lifeless.

Thecla had been there then and again when he lost his eyesight after stopping her from trying to do the very same thing. This all came to him now as the man kissed him, their mouths slightly open at the press of their lips as if they were sharing breath.

In a sense, Quatre guessed they were. The unfurling, pressure in his chest eased and his body still felt strained but not to the point that it was going to be ripped apart. Dread filled him in the wake of relief when he opened his eyes and saw the light that made up the sight flicker, becoming browns and grays - the alcove taking shape before his eyes.

_He will die. He'll die_. The thought came to him urgently and repeated itself in his head until he could lift his arms and push him back.

"Don't..." he couldn't get another word out, his throat was too dry and sore. Quatre's vision flickered back into the sight and he was stunned by the intensity of the concern Tamien had for him.

"It's ok. I wouldn't bind you to me." Tamien said breathlessly, taking hold of Quatre's hand on his shoulder and squeezing it.

Quatre felt a sudden conflict within Tamien but with another squeeze to his hand, the conflict was gone.

"Although, your mark on me won't fade so easily..." Quatre could hear the smile in Tamien's voice. It made him wondered if he was a wielder. He dismissed the thought, sure that he would've sensed,_ seen_ it as he had in Duo.

Tamien's fingers sent little shocks across his senses as they trailed along his jaw teasing and soothing the knot in his chest. They were still connected, he was still drawing from him and suppressing but much slower than before.

Tamien didn't understand him. He wanted to warn him that being bound to someone was the least of Quatre's worries. Quatre just didn't want anyone else to die for him. He shook his head and his vision popped back in. For another heart thrilling moment he could see. He could see Tamien's eyes - the pupils were nearly blown, his cheeks flushed and his skin glistened with sweat.

"It's okay." The fingers moved to the side of his temple, then wiping at the corners of his eyes. He was crying. It was strange that he would. This man was an enemy - even if he was with Heero that meant nothing. He had caused the death of one of this man's comrades and he wondered if he told him, if he said he could've done the same to him in a heartbeat would that stop him? If he told him that he would die if he kept helping him?

"See!" Tamien exclaimed, his voice quiet and intimate at Quatre's ear. Tamien sat up slightly on his stretched arm, his breath coming in short puffs against Quatre's ear and breaking into his thoughts. He stared down into Quatre's eyes and Quatre could see the tenderness in his eyes that he conveyed in the slow strokes of his hand into his hair. "The wind is calming, there's no need to overextend yourself."

This man had a beautiful smile and was leaning into him again. "A little more and you should be ok."

Tamien's kiss silenced anything he could've tried to utter in protest. This was not just the press of lips like before but a real kiss that made him feel it too. He arched into it, pulling the man closer instead of pushing him away like he intended. In a hot and blinding flash of feeling, Quatre's heart calmed and the pressure in his chest faded along with his consciousness.

The last feeling he had trailing on the tapering end of his consciousness was regret for not knowing the man's name.

Tbc…

* moje milé = my sweet or dear


	10. Chapter X

Unbeta'd  
Italics ~ thoughts  
Warnings: Duo torture, MXM goodiness, teaser/lime?, suggestive content  
Pairings: eventual 1x2/2x1, and the pen dabbles around a bit

Input/feedback much appreciated.

Notes: thank you guys for reading and especially for reviewing it helps a writer lots ^_^. .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the sexies in Gundam Wing AC, I just love to help them live a little.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

X

It had been his best guess after seeing when these people had breakfast and dinner. He'd been in Acai for little over a week. Yet what puzzled him most about this new place that he was trying to make his home wasn't that it was underground or that it had more water than any place he knew of, but Heero. It seemed no matter the place his thoughts would end up on the messy haired man. Oddly enough, he caught himself... more like Quatre caught him smiling when he'd been moments away from being accosted by Heero. Duo smiled sleepily to himself, he noticed after the first night he roomed with Quatre, he couldn't hide what he was feeling from him. He figured that ability was what made it easy for Quatre to fool people about what he could see.

He wondered if this was some sort of setup because almost every time he had a moment to himself Heero would be there. More like in the area either walking through an entryway just as the other person, usually Quatre, left or he left him. The man had an unerringly knack of finding him. Heero would wait until he noticed him before he approached and just as Duo prepared to make his getaway Wu Fei would appear and the shape shifter was hard for Duo to shake by himself.

Quatre knew all the all the ways to hide from Wu Fei, but Duo really thought that sometimes Wu Fei just let him get away with it. When Wu Fei disappeared on him it was usually when Relena was near and at that time Heero didn't do his stalker bit. Relena would preoccupy him so much that Duo had been tempted to go over and trip him just to see if he'd get his attention. It was a strange thing, truly. Relena would rescue him from imminent Heero capture but at the same time he neither felt thankful nor amused when she did it. He actually felt like he was being denied his right to tell Heero off or something close to that.

Duo yawned. He was agitated and still half asleep but he was up and moving because Quatre had called him. He scratched his head and yawned again. Quatre was still calling him and didn't quite get why it was taking so long to get to Quatre's room when they were right across the hall from each other.

"Geez, Quat it's still early what could be so important? Man! I wish you were awake when Thecla chewed me out and had Wu Fei make me go to my room." Duo slurred in a sleepy mutter, "Heh, like a little kid."

Duo chuckled, "She really cares about you, you know..."

Swaying on his feet, Duo snapped out of his impromptu sleepwalk because/from the near falling feeling.

"Wait... what?" He heard his voice carry and tried to orient himself even though he couldn't seem to stop walking. There was an odd pull in his chest. Duo felt something similar whenever Heero was near but this pull was something he always felt. It sometimes started as a quiver under his skin or he'd wake to find himself on the outskirts of Maheran's farms and he'd be facing the mountains. He shook his head, looking around and trying to figure out where he was.

"Somewhere at the back of the city," he sighed, knowing that much from the snorts, grumbling shift of large bodies and the smell of the undercity cattle. He figured he was a tunnel or two away from where they were sheltered since the smell wasn't very strong.

Quatre's city was circular, a very big circle and he knew he would eventually run into someone or end up some place familiar. Yet he worried because when he let his mind wander, that thing he could always feel on the edge of his consciousness called. Duo couldn't explain how he'd mistaken it for Quatre's voice because it was soundless.

It drew him, a wordless push that pulled him onward no matter how much he fought it. It called to him and he found himself walking through a wide, lichen lit corridor. This place he'd never seen before. The corridor opened to a grassy cavern with small trees dotting around huge stalactites. Duo struggled with himself, taking halted steps as he was compelled forward in a staggering gait.

Duo grabbed the top of the nearest tree and its soft canopy broke off in his hand. He grabbed at it and the whole top came off. Duo turned it over and saw thousands of dusty gray gills on the inside of the cap he held. The musky aroma of it drifted to his nose and he understood that the small trees that filled the corridor before him were giant mushrooms and the grass, a kind of moss that squished under his feet. He looked down at his wet shoes and dread filled him as his feet carried him on. Soon he could see and hear the violent flow of the underground stream that fed Acai.

The path he was being made to walk led up to bank. Sweat trickled down his face even though he was getting colder the closer he got to the water. He really disliked being around large pools of water. He hesitated near the stream's bank but his feet dragged him forward. Duo stared helplessly at the blue-green glow from the lichen reflecting off the water's rippling dark surface. Duo's body shook as he dug his heels into the sandy bank, leaving a trailing scuff mark.

"Duo?"

Duo's exhale of relief gave way to pants as he stumbled several steps backwards and braced himself on his knees while he tried to catch his breath. The pull toward the water was gone, replaced by the familiar niggle in his chest that he'd come to associate with Heero being near.

_Having my own stalker has it__s__ uses_. Duo mused and stood, shaking off the clinging chill. He ducked behind one of the rigid columns of stone when he caught sight of Heero heading in the opposite direction of where he stood. He stepped lightly to make sure his movement was silent as he made his way over to corridor that he'd come through at Heero's back. Duo looked back on impulse to check Heero's position and his foot slipped from under him. He bit his lip when his knee made a loud splat in the moss.

"Duo!"

_He__'s__ coming._ Duo pushed himself up in a run. His heart was beating wildly in his chest and it confused him when he felt the beginnings of a smile on his face. He shook his head, this wasn't a game but he was… elated?!

"Leave me the hell alone!" Duo shouted, shaking his head again in an attempt to shake the feeling with its realization_. _

_It has to be all Heero__'s doing._ He reasoned. He was becoming good at avoiding the man or being around the right people to make their contact minimal. _But I'm thrilled that Heero__'s coming after me?_Duo squeezed his eyes shut, not a marginally smart thing to do at the moment, because he was running a path straight into a stalactite. Duo opened his eyes a few feet in front of the stalactite, he didn't have enough time to try and maneuver around it so he crashed into it with his shoulder and rolled chest to back over it.

"Duo!?" Duo heard Heero's concern but he had little time to ponder it further, he was running still and he knew he was going to make it to the corridor before Heero could reach him.

"Why-" Heero started but Duo tuned him out and ended up looking back anyway. Heero had actually fallen.

Heero cursed the mossy floor beneath him and crushed the odiferous mushrooms to push himself back to his feet. "Duo, stop running away from me and listen!"

"NO!" Heero was running again and Duo whipped around, his feet sliding in the moss as he shifted his focus back to getting away. Duo's chest hurt from running so much but he wasn't going to let Heero catch him. "Stay away from me! I don't have to do anything you say!"

Heero ran up the side of one stalactite and then jumped, slipping across the tops of two mushrooms before landing in a crouch in front of Duo.

Duo skidded before he could hop back, his arm bracing his left side.

"Duo, Relena didn't heal you?" Heero panted out and Duo held his arm closer to his side, an unconscious response to Heero's penetrating look.

Duo waited to see if Heero would stop staring at his side but the cerulean eyes stayed. Duo smirked and feinted to the left. Heero was quick to block his movement, his sharp eyes tracking him with his arms spread wide and low.

"She didn't?" Heero pressed, eyes darting back to his.

Duo ignored him, bothered by his concern and tried to get around Heero again but the dark haired man caught his arm. Duo twisted out of his grip and punched his arm away, making Heero fall back a step.

Heero had his arms back out again, wincing slightly from the surprising force behind the blow.

"Answer the question." Heero persisted as he half glared at him and Duo looked him over with a guarded eye.

"You'll let me by?" Duo asked breathless but still bouncing on his feet.

Heero promised nothing with his silence and Duo gave him a sarcastic smirk before crossing his arms over his heaving chest and standing still before him.

Heero watched him for a long moment then rose from his crouching position. "Answer me." Heero demanded. Heero's voice was calm while he tried to burn through Duo with his eyes.

Duo arched a brow, mocking the Captain with an imitation of one of his most intimidating looks. All the while, he tried not to notice how hot he suddenly felt staring back at Heero whose piercing eyes had never left him.

"No." Duo told him, his smirk becoming a grin when he realized how good it felt to say that and know there would be no consequences. That here, he didn't have to answer to or hide from anyone.

Well, there were some exceptions.

But Heero had no power over him here.

It seemed that Heero realized this too, because he straightened, one hand lowering to his side while he held the other one out to Duo.

Duo was faced with an eerie sense of déjà vu. He'd felt something vaguely familiar when he'd visited with Zechs, but nothing when he was around that Relena girl. His heart did strange things in his chest whenever Heero was around Relena but even that had a familiar feel to it.

"Come with me." Heero entreated his voice provocative and consoling.

Duo regarded Heero's out stretched hand and found himself suddenly lost when he came to Heero's smoldering cerulean eyes. Duo's smirk fell away and he fisted his hands at his sides to ensure they didn't succumb to Heero.

_It's a lie! _Duo told himself. _He's just doing that to get me to do what he wants. I__'m not one of his soldiers, his servant or some pet that'__ll __yap at his every beck and call!_ Duo glared at Heero and his proffered hand.

"Come with me, please." Heero amended, "I need to talk to you."

_He__'__s trying_, and just like that, one treacherous thought had Duo's angry glare deflating into a furious pout. He brushed past Heero, tense - half expecting the man to make a grab for him but Heero let him pass. Duo walked on for several strides, then slowed to a stop and blocked out his disappointment with pain as he kicked the wall.

_He's not following… Why should it matter!?_ Duo made an exasperated sound. _ What's wrong with me!?_

"If you're going to talk," Duo started unsure of what he was trying to do. Duo had most of his back to the low light coming from the cavern, his face hidden by the darkness of the corridor.

_Why am I doing this?_ He frowned down at the smooth, dark path and stepped away from the wall. It was like he didn't understand himself anymore.

He sighed, he knew himself well enough to know he needed to stop the lies. He always lied to himself because it was an easy out. An automatic defense he had in a world that made it a habit of taking anything that mattered to him away. But it was getting harder to make up stuff and stick to it when it came to Heero.

That in itself gave him reason enough to be worried.

Duo smacked himself on the forehead. "I don't see how that's going to happen if you're gonna stay down there." He blurted out and started walking again but stopped, this time in a dim lit part of the corridor. He didn't hear any movement behind him.

Duo glanced over his shoulder and found Heero still standing there looking lost. Then a thought occurred to Duo, he didn't really know the way back but he knew if he went back the way he came he'd get there... eventually.

_Maybe this was a bad idea? Or maybe he didn't hear me?_ Although that was hard to believe considering how sound carried in this cavernous place, even the sound of the water carried to where he stood. It made him wonder how he missed it before, because he knew that the moment he heard it, he would have steered clear of it. Then he remembered how he hadn't been all that awake or aware and the insistent inaudible call that pulled at him in every which way it could. It had compelled him to come here and Heero had somehow silenced it... blocked it.

Duo shook his head and turned back to Heero at the same time Heero looked to him. Duo smiled, and then quickly hid it when Heero approached.

They walked together, Duo a little behind Heero since the sure footed man seemed to know where he was going. Nothing looked the least bit familiar to Duo but as soon as it did he'd ditch Heero no matter his reasons for wanting to talk to him. He needed to talk to Quatre. Maybe the blonde wielder could help him figure out what he was truly feeling.

More time passed and Duo watched Heero, paying extra attention to where his hands were at all times. Heero did nothing and more time lapsed in silence.

"Heero." Duo called to him, slightly frustrated and tired of listening to their footsteps echo off the tunnel walls.

Heero arched a brow but said nothing.

"Newt talks more than you do." Duo muttered.

"You talk to animals now?"

"Yes, I do. They talk more than you do and bring valid points to the table."

Heero snorted and kept walking, eyeing Duo covertly out the corners of his eyes. "I decided not to say it."

Duo brought his crossed arms down from resting high on his chest to lay low on his stomach, giving Heero a small frown. "What do you mean you 'decided not to say it'? That makes no sense. Why are you still here then?"

Heero stopped next to him, the tunnels were still absent of the undercity people because of the early morning hour and the low sounds of the cattle shifting within their shelters told Duo they were close to the farms.

"Because."

Duo stared at Heero who turned to him and only shrugged his shoulders.

"'Because' what?"

"I decided just being able to walk with you, without having anyone interrupt or you avoiding me was, far better than anything I could say." Heero smirked. He gestured back to the tunnel they'd come through and its hidden corridor to the underground river, "Besides, you were lost."

_Smug bastard!_ Duo walked up to Heero and pushed him into the wall and tensed, nervous jitters racing up and down his body.

Heero stayed by the wall, reclining impassively against it.

"That's …weird." Duo said lamely, unsure of how to digest what the messy haired man had said or his calm posture against the wall. "Why help me then?" Duo looked around, his eyes never leaving Heero for long, waiting for the messy haired man to do something in retaliation. Yet, he knew that Heero had never threatened him with bodily harm before nor did he intentionally hurt him when he tended to his wound.

"Why not?" Duo frowned at Heero, tempted to do something more like hitting the man. Anything to shake the calm facade Heero affected.

Duo clenched his already fisted hands and walked off instead.

"Don't - don't answer my question with a question!" Duo fumed cutting his eyes to Heero as he tried to keep his frown even though he was pleased Heero was following.

Heero took the lead again when Duo looked indecisive at a three way split in the tunnel. "Will you stay here if you find this place doesn't suit you?"

"Do you think I'd really tell you that?" Duo huffed.

"There aren't many options or places a wielder can be safe... You could-"

But Duo was already shaking his head, not hearing all Heero had said. "I'm sure as hell not going back there!"

Duo stormed ahead of Heero.

"Duo."

Duo sighed, the man had infinite patience and he could hear Heero reach out to him again through his voice. It was that same feeling in his chest that made him slow down again.

_It__'__s__ all Heero's fault_! He tried to convince himself one more time but it couldn't be farther from the truth. Duo spun on his heel and pushed Heero back. His hand resting, fingers splayed in the middle of Heero's chest.

"Look, why do you keep..." Duo made a frustrated sound, unsure of how to say what bothered him about Heero most. "Just... I don't know you, but I want to?! I can't see how you would have an... interest in me? You..." He stared hard at the expression on Heero's face and he found he couldn't continue.

Heero stood there waiting and staring back at him with hope and hurt in his eyes, his ever expressive eyes. Duo couldn't find a reason to dislike Heero beyond him being a Captain for Nartob. If he was truthful with himself, he didn't dislike Heero at all. To an extent he trusted him.

_I... He__'s interested in me?_ Duo thought, surprised at himself and more than a little pissed. "Yea, I…" He looked away from the silent man, deep in thought and not sure what he was about to say just then.

Heero touched his hand, holding it in his own without putting any effort into keeping it against his chest.

Duo looked up from their hands to Heero, whose eyes caught him and he couldn't look away. He realized he didn't want to. That feeling, that inexplicable pull, came back to him full force and he understood it now. He felt this need when Heero was around, like his stomach was empty but more. It was like he was missing something and Heero had it. Duo wanted to fault the suppression thing Heero had done to him before but he knew it was much deeper than that and the decision had never been just Heero's alone.

"When this is over, fail or no, I have to go back to Maheran." Duo listened to the monotone drawl to Heero's voice as a sharp pain exploded in his chest. A ghost of feeling went across the back of his knuckles as Heero's thumb moved, drawing his attention temporarily away from it. "She cannot stay here. She'd endanger everyone here."

Duo tried to swallow past the tacky, dry lump lodged in his throat.

"You intend to go back." Duo's voice sounded lost. It felt like a hollow space just opened up in his chest. He knew who Heero was referring to but that didn't stop the pain from growing in his chest or the emptiness from returning.

"For Relena?" Duo's eyes dropped away from Heero's and settled somewhere between their hands and Heero's chest. Duo felt like he wasn't really there anymore. He knew he wouldn't go back. This thing, whatever it was that he felt between him and Heero, he couldn't go back to Maheran and be little more than a drone or his servant. He was free here and though like every place, Acai was not perfect, but at least he didn't have to be alone or live on the streets any more. Here he had a friend, could make even more friends and find a job doing anything he wanted here. If this thing between them had made Heero pursue him thus far, brought him down into the undercity after him, then why couldn't he stay with him?

_This is crazy! Just when everything starts to make sense to me… Just when I figured it all out... figured myself out, Heero tells me he's leaving with Relena._

"For the One." At that confirmation, Duo fisted the front of Heero's tunic just beneath his jerkin before releasing it and punching Heero there.

"Why does it have to be you? She can have anyone escort her, can't she?" But he felt the pain flare up in his chest as Heero began shaking his head before he even began the second question.

"I am her Principal."

Duo looked at him with wide eyes, fists shaking at his sides and felt as if he couldn't breathe.

_Heero's the One's bonded. A seeker strong enough to wield for her if ever…_ It made no sense to him. _If he has her then why was-is he pursuing me?_ "Th-then what is this?"

Heero looked at Duo with a slight frown, "I have a responsibility-"

"You do," Duo felt so foolish for being lulled into this by Heero's actions and half explanations, "and I won't stand for being someone's seconds."

"Wait, what are you talking about Duo?"

"No! I'm not going to stand here and be a sucker for you. You have your bonded! You have _her_! You don't-you won't ever need me like that." Duo shook his head, leveling anger bright blue violets on Heero. He felt like he'd lost everything all over again but he refused to let anything other than his anger show. He needed to leave, "Just go do whatever hell it is you intend to do and leave me out of it!"

Heero grabbed his arm, stopping him from walking away from him, "We aren't-Duo!" Heero made a frustrated sound when Duo twisted out his grasp. He got a hold of him again and pulled him around to face him, "You are- Damn it!"

But Duo jerked his arms free of Heero's hands and knocked the hand reaching for him away with the back of his fist.

Heero gasped, stumbling back a step, stunned again by the strength behind the blow. "Duo! Stop running away from me!"

"Whatever!" Duo hit Heero again. He was angry with himself for allowing that possibility, hope, past his guards. He laughed, he would have been safer sticking to the lies. They kept the people who mattered to him most at a safe distance. That way he didn't have to worry about the people who came into his life one moment disappearing in the next. People like the Gaults. They'd been the only constant all his life and that was the whole reason he risked the visits to the Gaults' shop to reassure himself that they were still there.

Then there was Heero. He stumbled over the thoughts, of all things really, that concerned this man he barely knew but felt he mattered a great deal to him.

_When did he start to matter _this_ much? _It was a question that left him confused because he had no answer and the man was lying to him.

_No, he's not._ Duo sighed letting go of the weak attempt to fool himself. Although it would have been easier to let this all go if he were. He believed him when he said he and Relena weren't bonded. He believed him and he was tired of letting people in then losing them.

He was aware of Heero being a Nartob Captain but as Principal to the One? Heero would never give that up for the likes of him. Yet, he still had this bizarre hope that he could find something with Heero like he saw between the Gaults. He knew it wasn't always perfect like the stories made it sound but now that he realized he could have it, he wanted it.

He wanted it here, where he had some semblance of freedom.

He wanted to scream. It was crazy that he could feel so strongly for a man he'd barely known a month but it was real. When he wasn't trying to ignore them, the feelings were always there. They grew every time Heero did something that proved Duo wrong about what he expected of a Nartob soldier.

"This is what's best for you-"

"Don't you stand there and make decisions for me!" Duo lashed out, "_I_ decided that _I_ would stay here! You have no say in what I do! You don't know what's best for _me_! I'm tired of you treating me like some kid one moment and then – then _stalk_ me like I'm your property the next!" Duo yelled at him, his fist sailing toward Heero's face on the last of his angry rant.

* * *

Heero caught Duo's fist then the other when it came at him from the side. He wanted Duo with him at all times but he knew Duo wouldn't be safe or happy in Maheran. Watching Duo here had shown him that. If he brought him back, he'd have to go back into hiding because Heero had little doubt Jirrad would forget a face. Heero looked at Duo's pinched, anger bright eyes and sighed, "Duo, I want you-"

Heero let go of Duo's hands, taken aback by the sudden and painful clack of teeth and press of lips to his. Heero looked into Duo's eyes and found the surprise he felt reflected in the wide violet orbs. They stayed like that in a painful lip lock that was more teeth than lips. Although, Heero wasn't the least bit disappointed, he drew back with a half smile and tingling lips, "Duo, we-"

Heero chuckled, cut off again by the inexperienced press of lips that was gentler this time but Duo had his eyes squeezed shut with a blush high on his cheeks. Heero slid his hands up and down Duo's sides before they settled on his shoulders. Heero rubbed the tense muscles of Duo's shoulders and then kissed him like he'd been wanting too since the day he'd seen him in the shop. He began with the gentle press of lips, a kiss that led to another as he coaxed Duo's lips to move with his. Their tongues meet just over the ridge of Heero's teeth and the wild haired man felt a shock of cold familiarity. He sucked Duo's tongue into his mouth and pulled Duo to him to deepen the kiss.

Heero had been looking for Duo for so long then when he found him he could only watch him from afar. It tore at him watching Duo struggle and live off of scraps or nothing at all. Before they came to Maheran, Duo didn't have to want for nothing. A couple of times, he chanced leaving food and water at the meager hovel Duo had made for himself in a narrow alley near the outskirts of Maheran. But that stopped when Duo abandoned it and it took him nearly two weeks to find him again. He had the Gaults to thank for that because Duo stopped by once, sometimes twice a week to see them. From then on, Heero decided to remain distant if he didn't want Duo to be discovered or runaway from him again.

Duo whimpered into his mouth and made him whole, made him complete. He wanted,_ need_ed more.

* * *

_He's taking... too much..._ Of what Duo couldn't put a word to but the sudden distressed thought that entered his mind was enough to snap him out of the lull he was quickly falling into. He was starting to not feel anything but unlike when Heero had pinned him out in the desert, he couldn't breathe at all. Duo pushed but Heero didn't budge pressing into him and holding his head in place. Duo bit Heero hard enough to draw blood and the man loosen his hold on him, panting in his face.

Duo shoved Heero away from him.

For a moment that felt longer than two blinks of his eyes, Duo felt like clawing at his neck and chest to try and get himself to start breathing again. Then the moment passed and he took shaky breaths with his heart beating oddly in his chest against a slight pressure there. Duo panted, stumbling several steps back. He was still winded, his lips bruised and throbbing in time with his heart. The skin of his wrists, the back of his hand, his head tingled - burned with that same warmth when Heero had suppressed him at the camp. It was a sluggishly spreading, pleasurable heat that made Duo pant for other reasons and the flesh between his legs stiffen with interest.

Duo found Heero's eyes, they were glowing lowly – the blue of his eyes brighter than he remembered. Duo's heart sped up in his chest at the hypnotic sight. Heero's eyes and his body language changed as he stalked slowly toward him. Duo found himself stuck where he stood even though his instincts were telling him to flee but Duo found himself pinion by Heero's eyes.

Duo didn't know what else to call the look that Heero was giving him except hunger. He found he could move suddenly but the futile step he took backward made Heero stop the slink in his gait and practically jump to eliminate the distance between them.

"Heero, I don't-" Duo bit his lip. Heero put a hot hand on his shoulder and the other around his waist, pulling them together.

Duo had both hands against Heero's chest ready to push him back but his eyes went wide at the heat coming off of Heero. It hadn't been there when he kissed him or when they were wrestling earlier. Heero was burning up. "You have a fever? But-"

"Shh." Heero silenced Duo with a kiss of his own.

Duo relaxed when Heero only pressed his lips to his. It was not overly demanding nor did it feel as if Heero was trying to swallow him through his mouth. The soft press of lips became little pecks that made Duo give an uneasy laugh, his concern for Heero was more than he could pretend to ignore. Duo's worry was replaced by sensual heat, pooling low in Duo's stomach as he caught those cerulean blues watching him beneath black lashes. Duo could feel Heero, he was hotter then he thought was normal and the smell of his perspiring skin…the faint scent of the melon nut soap, sweat and Heero filled his nose.

Duo shivered when Heero's hands found their way under his shirt, slid over the dressings of the bandage before they burned against his skin. Duo half-heartedly tried to hold Heero's arm still to stop his roaming hand and subsequent burn that ignited everywhere Heero touched him. He gasped and moaned when Heero's hot hand wandered over his chest. Heero caught the embarrassing sound in his mouth and deepen the kiss. This time when their lips met Duo felt that odd pull from before swell and mingled with the building heat in his body.

He groaned and Duo's eyes snapped open at the feel of it.

It was like everything clicked into place. They were connected in some way deeper than the intimacy of their mouths. They were breathing, his exhale out became Heero's inhalation, in time with each other, their bodies were in tune. He put both of his hands into Heero's thick wild hair and took control of the kiss. He felt something in him open and he gave Heero as much of it as he could. Heero moaned and Duo felt the jerk of Heero's erection against his thigh. Duo's own erection throbbed achingly within the confines of his pants. Duo felt his heart pulse along his erection in anticipation when Heero dropped down to one knee with one last swipe of his tongue along his bottom lip. Heero pressed his face into Duo's stomach, nipping at the skin through the thin material of his tunic and moving downward.

"Hah-! Heero!" Duo pushed on Heero's shoulders. Heero pulled back enough so that he could grab Duo's tunic and rip it open up the middle. Duo caught only a glimpse of Heero's glowing eyes again before lips were leaving burning kisses where all the little red marks from Heero's teeth were. Duo shivered at the hot hand cupping him through his pants and then he tried to pull back when Heero started nipping new places, too close to where Heero stroked him. But strong hands held his hips and gripped him by his rear, holding him in place.

"Ngh, stop-!" Duo panted, face flushed as he pulled at Heero's hair and feeling lightheaded at the pool of heat and pressure in lower regions.

Heero obeyed, surprising Duo with the sudden lack of motion. Duo frowned down at him and Heero licked his rosy lips, his forehead dropping to rest just beneath Duo's bellybutton. He stayed there and simply breathed against him, "Hee-uh!"

A hot trail of heat ran up to his chest after clever fingers ran up his body to toy with one nipple while Heero mouthed Duo's erection through his pants. Duo gasped and grabbed Heero's hand when he pinched the sensitive nub. Duo peeked down at the sudden pressure against the head of his cock to find Heero already leaning back with a departing lick to the growing wet spot in Duo's pants. Heero pulled on his hips and Duo's knees dropped from under him.

Duo ended up straddling Heero's thigh, his arms propped up on Heero's shoulders with his fingers entangled in Heero's wild hair and Duo's head resting against the side of Heero's as they panted against each other. Heero sent a trail of heat along his right hip as he slipped a hand into the back of his pants. Duo jerked at the touch and squeezed Heero's thigh between his legs making Heero gasp. Duo smirked when Heero's hand found its way back to his hip to hold him still after he squeezed and rubbed against the harden flesh held by Heero's tightening pants.

Duo moved against Heero again, liking the subtle gasp when Heero let go and the pressure from Heero's hand let up. Duo pulled open the ties of Heero's jerkin, his hands curiously mapping the hard, defined chest profiled through the brown tunic Heero wore. Duo leaned back, watching the flutter of Heero's dark lashes against the slightly flushed and heated skin of his face. He waited until Heero opened his eyes to see that low blue back glow that made his heart speed up and his body freeze for just a moment. He watched Heero's kiss bruised, rosy mouth open slightly to release again that subtle breath as Duo pressed against him.

Duo had the sudden memory of a younger Heero showing him his bleeding thumb and then passing him the knife where he also cut himself.

It was a strange thing to remember at a time like this but it told him one thing, he and Heero had met before. Duo frowned down at Heero, his hands clenching in Heero's hair before he jerked Heero's head back and kissed him hard.

"You're mine." Duo whispered, surprised at what he'd said and feeling a little disoriented by the vehemence of the possessiveness he felt.

"Mine alone." And he realized he meant it.

Duo freed one of his hands from Heero's hair and rested it shakily against Heero's left breast before he kissed Heero again, putting all he felt into the kiss. Heero shivered under him and Duo didn't think he would've noticed it if he hadn't had his hand on Heero's chest.

"Yours." Heero agreed when the kiss ended with the soft smack of their lips.

Duo stared at Heero a long moment and Heero stared back at him with a drunken expression. Heero's tongue snuck out to wet his lips. Duo leaned down, kissing Heero again and chasing Heero's tongue back into his mouth.

"Then don't leave me…" Duo sat up slightly, sliding his other hand out of Heero's soft hair to drape his arm across his shoulders. Pain welled up in his chest despite the connection he felt between them that told him Heero wouldn't leave him. It told him he wasn't wrong about the depth of what Heero felt for him but he knew Heero was determined to go. Duo looked at Heero sadly and was about to speak when he was suddenly ripped away from the enthralled man.

Duo cursed, his erection throbbing in a painful way after slamming against Heero's knee. The pain warred with the rest of his body which was shaking and aching for more contact with Heero. Heero was sitting on one leg, the other stretched out in front of him, panting and alternatively growling at the person who had separated them.

"I should kill you here and now."

"No!" Duo shook his head and had to struggle with Wu Fei to let him turn and face him. "Wu Fei!"

Wu Fei let him go and Duo found he wanted to crawl back to where Heero still sat, leaning with his tunic rucked up, unbutton and showing the tan skin of his stomach and chest. He wanted to be on the floor with Heero and let whatever was going to happen happen. Duo found himself yanked backwards once more and pulled behind Wu Fei. Duo thumped his head against the firm muscle of Wu Fei's shoulder, he'd never thought about it this way before. Never so intensely as this. Anytime he had indulged, it had been a quick and meaningless release. He didn't think it could have a deeper meaning other than an easy way to get coin. Like he'd seen some of the working ladies do while Duo helped himself to their men's unguarded purses.

But he didn't know how to make Wu Fei understand... to just let him go to Heero.

So Duo stared over Wu Fei's shoulder and winced when he tried to move from the behind the shape shifter. Wu Fei had a tight grip on his arm and squeezed it again to remind him of that.

"Heero," Duo could see Wu Fei's jaw shift as he gritted his teeth, "Quatre wants you to met him at your_ room_." Wu Fei growled down at Heero and Duo watched Heero struggle to his feet.

_I did that…_ Duo blushed and watched Heero's nose twitch oddly and his dilated, back lit blue eyes lock with his.

"Not without Duo."

_By the One!_ Duo felt his erection pulse warmth against the inside of his hip, the man's voice was a sexy deep that went straight to his cock.

Wu Fei's growl was more audible then the quiet rumble Duo had felt when he'd been pulled against his chest. "Dog, don't make me repeat the request."

Heero didn't budge. Wu Fei pulled Duo around and rubbed the corner of his mouth down the side of his face.

Heero scowled, stepping forward.

Duo looked at Heero with wide confused eyes and tried to push Wu Fei away. Duo winced when the shape shifter pulled his braid to get him to expose his neck and Wu Fei ran his mouth down the side of it.

"What are you doing?!" Duo had the heel of hand pressed and pushing against Wu Fei's forehead.

"Wu Fei!" Heero snapped advancing on them.

Wu Fei smirked, still holding Duo's arm and putting his arm firmly around Duo's waist, pulling Duo close to him. "You can move now can't you? You can't smell him as much as before." Wu Fei gave Heero a dark look, "Go. I'll not bind someone to me who is unaware of who they are."

The snarl on Heero's face was outdone by the intensity of his eyes and Duo found his eyes travelling down Heero's body to where his jerkin and tunic stopped at the top of his thighs. Duo could see where Heero's left trouser leg was tighter than usual, showing off the outline of Heero's muscled thigh and the length of his erection on the inside of that thigh. Duo found Heero's eyes again and he shivered at their intent look. Another yank from Wu Fei had Duo stumbling backwards and back behind the shape shifter.

"Heero." Wu Fei growled out, "if you want to want to reach your men unscathed, you should go now."

Duo felt his arousal wane and his breath hitched strangely as he waited for Heero to choose. He fisted the back of Wu Fei's tunic and Heero walked past them. Duo slumped forward against Wu Fei's strong back like a marionette that just had its strings cut.

Tbc…


	11. Chapter XI

Unbeta'd  
Italics ~ thoughts  
Warnings: Angst, MXM goodiness, teaser, suggestive content  
Pairings: eventual 1x2/2x1, and the pen dabbles around a bit

Input/feedback is much appreciated and really helps ^_^

Notes: Thank you and I'm sorry about the confusion in the beginning, if it gets worse holler at me through the comments with any questions and I'll get back to you. I'm really glad you guys are sticking with me through this and the odd workings of my mind. All of you who have betas are sooo lucky! ^_^. . .

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Disclaimer: I don't own any of the sexies in Gundam Wing AC, I just love to help them live a little.  
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XI

Quatre opened his eyes and his next inhale stopped short.

"I can see." He said in an exhaled breath before his heart sped up in his chest. For this wasn't a moment to be celebrated by him. Quatre jerked upright and started when his hand landed on an arm. He looked down and found the man, splayed on the ground next to him. At first glance, Quatre could tell the man's chest wasn't moving. Tamien wasn't moving at all. Quatre leaned over him, his hand shook as he reached to touch him but stopped. It was too late, for what had happen seven years back had happen again. Quatre felt ill, but he wanted to touch the man and turn his head so that he could remember what he looked like for however long this seal would last.

"Mmm, that was… different." Quatre jerked his hand away from the lazy, intoxicated sounding voice that chuckled up at him.

Verdant eyes turned to him, pupils still blown, with an intensity that made blood run to Quatre's cheeks, lightly pinkening his skin. Tamien smiled and sat up on his elbows.

They were a hand's span away from each other but Quatre couldn't get himself to move. The man was alive and, from the emotions he was now openly sharing, thinking lewd thoughts.

"I definitely understand why Heero does this now." A flare of lust hit Quatre as the man ate him up with his eyes.

It sent a slight crawling sensation across his skin. Quatre blushed but frowned regally down at the man.

"Don't moje milé." The man ran his cold fingers over his eyebrows and into the hair curling at his temple before he slipped them into the hair behind Quatre's ear and pulled him forward into a kiss.

Quatre put a hand on his shoulder bringing the kiss to an abrupt end. Soon his hands slipped to the back of the man's neck and Quatre held him close, their noses touching for a long silent moment. They stared at each other and Quatre felt oddly anxious but settled by the mingling of their breaths. His pale golden lashes lowered over his aquamarine eyes as he came to terms, accepting that the past wasn't the present and the man before him was no Rashid. He kissed Tamien across his upper lip then his bottom lip before initiating a long impassioned kiss.

"That's… a convincing thank you," Tamien muttered when their lips parted, shuddering in Quatre's grasp before he dropped back to the floor bringing Quatre with him.

Quatre had to admit, he liked it too.

"Master Quatre!"

Quatre aborted the second kiss with a suck to the man's lush bottom lip that had Tamien rising up to follow him before Quatre pushed him away. The man fell back limply with a frustrated sound to the alcove floor and let his head roll so he could stare at Quatre with his redden lips. Quatre smirked down at the listless man and flushed at the curl of desire that felt more like hands touching him. Quatre looked down and saw that his robe hung off his arms and pooled, front open, around his lap. Quatre quickly closed it and stood pulling it straight when he suddenly lost his footing and found himself back on his knees, the robe pulled back down to hang open off his arms.

"I like you better that way." Tamien told him with a seductive smirk and sent a finger like sensation running slowly down his throat to his chest and down his stomach to his bellybutton where it swirled the way the man's tongue did when he licked his lips. Quatre diffused it with a thought and looked down at the man with a flushed face glare.

Quatre stiffened at the startled sound of his people beyond the wall of his alcove and rushed to his feet. He fixed his robe and ignored the phantom fingers running down his back and then through his hair. He ruffled his hair at the back of his head to make them go away as the same guards who'd been standing outside his room came running into the alcove.

"Master –" The man looked perplexed as did his partner, they would not question their leaders' dalliances despite Thecla's orders.

Quatre calmly stood, if not a bit fidgety as he regarded a man, a stranger they were both quick to realize, on the floor. The stranger had a cocky smile on his face as he stared up at their leader and ignored their approach.

"Master Quatre, are you alright?" The first guard walked toward him but stopped when Quatre gestured to the stranger on the floor.

"Take him to a room, and remain there to ensure he doesn't leave. Have Heero meet me at his."

"Master?" The second man said, already pulling one of the stranger's arms over his shoulder.

"Quatre or Quat please." Quatre smiled into it, even though it was something he always said to them. He was elated he could put faces to the voices he'd known for so many years.

"He-!" Quatre squawked, an indignant blush creeping up on his cheeks when both men turned to him. Quatre frown at Tamien and the airy possessiveness he picked up.

Tamien smirked drunkenly at him and let his head rest against his upraised shoulder. "It's Tamien, Quatre? Can I get one those thank yous on rain check?"

Quatre glared, a muscle twitching in his cheek as he dismissed the airy fingers on the inside of his thigh. "Take him. _ He_ is a prisoner and a comrade of Heero's. He is not permitted to leave his confines."

The guards stiffened and nodded to him, before swiftly leaving with the soldier stumbling between them.

Quatre exhaled, slumping against the nearest wall.

"Tamien, hm…" Quatre said with an exasperated shake of his head. A smile played on his lips and hard flesh thumped against his thigh as he took the side stairwell to get quickly and covertly back to his room.

O----------------------OoO----------------------O

Heero stormed through the tunnels with a glare that sent people scurrying out of his path. He threw back the flap to his dwelling and met a smirking Quatre.

"Careful, it's just linen. It meant you no harm." Quatre said nonchalantly, the sand packed wall in front of him shifting then returning to normal as he turned to face Heero.

"…" Heero scowled at the blonde man, nose flared, fists clenched at his sides.

Quatre raised a brow and gestured to the table and chairs.

Heero's scowl remained, his nose twitching oddly for a moment before he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Very well. Do you know where -"

"Where's Tamien?" Heero's curt question cut Quatre off, but Quatre's smile remained and reflected in his aquamarine eyes.

Quatre raised a fine pale brow, "He's… contained." Quatre couldn't help his amusement at the thought of the other man.

"What do you intend to do?" Heero asked in a calmer voice.

Quatre looked at Heero, taking in the slight color to his cheeks, the state of his undress and seeing the non-smile expression that matched the muted emotions he picked up. He smiled. He couldn't help the simple joy of seeing. It was amazing to see his people and it reaffirmed his commitment to them.

_And he didn't die to give me this... _Quatre smiled to himself, thankful that, at the moment, Heero was too self involved to notice he recovered his sight.

_Although it is only temporary. _The thought didn't diminish the feelings behind his smile but he did turn it down to the simple curve of his lips. He needed to constantly remind himself of that least he get too comfortable and forget. He'd share this bit of happiness with the person it came easiest with.

There was also the connection he'd felt with Tamien. _Is he my..._ Quatre blocked the thought before he could finish it. He had a lot to consider.

"I intend, nothing." He told Heero plainly, "Take your comrade and have him take you out the way he came. Talk to your men and I'll meet you there in awhile to aid the one going back to Maheran." He suddenly had the urge to find Duo. He wanted to _see_ Duo.

O----------------------OoO----------------------O

_I'm a wielder and the principal wants me?! Heero wants me..._ Came the confused and elated thought.

_I'm a wielder and can't do jack with it!_ Came the depressing thought as he tried to move the air and nothing happen. It didn't help any that he didn't know what he was doing.

_Heero left…_ He stumbled, the thought called up an old ache that dwelled deep in his chest. _Heero always left. _And he remembered. Not everything, just snatches of moments of a reticent boy with piercing blue eyes and wild, long dark hair. The boy's family visited his often and protected the boy fiercely because of something concerning their Warden. Then he would leave again.

_He always left..._ He shook his head against the shoulder supporting him, stopping the thought before it could be repeated again. He didn't want to think about it but there were only so many circles his mind could run in within in the confines of his skull. It made sense that Heero would want to be beside a strong wielder since he had the capacity to contain and meet a strong wielder's needs. But Heero being with Relena, for any reason, seemed beyond wrong to him.

He exhaled and in that breath, he accepted that he was a wielder. Memory told him as much but trying to remember what people in his family looked like had him drawing a blank. All he gleaned from those bits of memory was that he was from a family of wielders. Yet, he could do nothing the equivalent of say Relena making luscious kingdoms with a bat of a lash, probably even when she broke wind. Or Quatre, the petite blonde could call up a sand storm with relative ease. Duo let out a loud and noisy breath and got a snarlish snort in response.

He was damned frustrated and wallowing…

Not so much frustrated as he was wallowing…

But he wasn't really wallowing just being carried like a hapless child. He stared hard at the ceiling above his carrier's head until they started to itch. He rubbed at them when blinking did little to relieve the itch. He called to it. Imagined it to doing something, but gave up when he had the beginnings of a headache.

"Wu Fei."

He was ignored.

"Wu Fei." Duo tried again in an exasperated breath.

Duo decided in that moment, mediocre ability or no, he wasn't going to give up what he wanted. He wanted to stay here. He wanted Heero to stay with him, but he could still hear the cattle moving around in the tunnel. In fact, he could hear them better than before but he knew Heero wasn't there or anywhere close.

Although, there was the problem that his legs had refused to hold him up since Heero had left him. This was why Wu Fei was carrying him now.

"Wu _Fei_!"

"Du-_O_!" Duo glared at the shape shifter who easily mocked him without changing his expression.

"Cheeky bastard..." Duo said under his breath, glaring at him.

Wu Fei allowed a smirk to curve his lips.

Duo smirked back, a wily look in his eyes that had Wu Fei regard him with his brows cocked in question. Duo flailed his arms and legs, kicking until Wu Fei growled, "Stop it."

"Then put me down." Duo demanded, short of breath.

Wu Fei snorted and walked on, his pace still slow.

"Fine, take me to Heero's room!"

Wu Fei walked slower and Duo felt his ire rise.

"Wu Fei," Duo said through gritted teeth and Wu Fei didn't bother with a reply.

Duo made a frustrated sound and flailed again.

Wu Fei growled and dumped him on his feet.

Duo cursed, grabbing onto Wu Fei when his knees buckled out from under him. He struggled on wobbly legs as Wu Fei stood there and let him.

_He might as well try out for best impression of a wall... _Duo thought to himself and grumbled curses under his breath.

"He didn't force you?"

Duo flushed, "Fei, what are you-"

"Did he?" Wu Fei glared down his nose at him.

Duo unperturbed by Wu Fei's glare after being exposed to so many of Heero's, got his shaky legs to stay bent at right angles.

"Fei, you _saw_." Duo mumbled knowing the shape shifter understood what he said. Too embarrassed to look at him, Duo settled on working with his legs. He tried to straighten with a hand on one knee and the other holding onto Wu Fei the wall.

Wu Fei snorted, "And smell! I could smell you both all the way down by the dinning hall."

Duo gave Wu Fei a confused look and Wu Fei pulled him upright by the back of his arm. Then Wu Fei had him moving in a fast wobbling walk out a side corridor. The cattle started in their holds, large bovine bodies shifting and colliding into each other and their surroundings. Wu Fei growled and stirred the poor animals further.

"Bet you come by here to do that just for the hell of it."

Wu Fei didn't reply, leading him out into the main tunnels but Duo laughed, he had a strong suspicion he was right.

By the time they made it to the corridor leading to his and Quatre's rooms, Duo was marginally walking on his own, but he was exhausted.

* * *

Quatre descended the stairs two at a time, confident in his footing after he overcame the initial disorientation lent to him by memory of the tunnels being far larger to his nine year-old self. Seeing and greeting all of his people who were early risers had him bouncing nearly with every step he took.

Quatre was about to walk into his room when he saw and felt them coming. He looked at Duo in concern and then to Wu Fei in askance.

Wu Fei shrugged and gave Quatre a confused look of his own before he spoke, "He let the dog take too much."

Duo flushed under Quatre's curious gaze and shook his head, "It wasn't like that." He defended, looking Quatre straight in the eyes, blush be damned. "Heero didn't take anything from me!"

His vehemence earned him a bright although still concerned smile as Quatre nodded and Wu Fei relaxed, minutely. Duo glared at Wu Fei, he knew the man was itching to tussle with Heero for some strange reason.

Quatre took Duo's arm from Wu Fei, pulling it over his shoulder and Duo leaned on him gratefully. Wu Fei left them, the long sweep of his tunic trailing his steps as he departed.

Quatre helped Duo into his room.

Quatre was being too quiet. Duo peered at the blonde wielder out the corners of his eyes and found him smiling.

"What's so funny?"

"Am I not allowed to my own musings?"

"No." Duo said with a pout as he collapsed gratefully onto the bed.

Quatre laughed, sitting down beside the pouty man, "I'm glad I got to see your expressions, they hold true to your emotions in how they color your face."

Duo cracked opened a blurry eye and regarded Quatre from where he lay on the bed. "What?"

Quatre shrugged, his smile fading a little. "Your current… state explains why Heero was short with me."

Duo sat up, "He- I'm sorry, Quat. I guess... I'm partially to blame for that." Duo picked at the coverlet and gave Quatre a sheepish smile.

"No need, it troubles me not. So, being with him is what you want?"

Duo nodded, "I just wish I knew for sure what it is he sees in me."

"Besides being a wielder or your exotic beauty?"

It was Duo's turn to laugh. He shook his head, tucking his legs under him before he rested his head against Quatre's shoulder. "Nah, Quat this street rat is pretty far from eye catching. You on the other hand- ow!"

Duo sat up and blocked Quatre's hand when he tried to flick him on the forehead again. "What-"

"We're not talking about me. Even I can see that whatever it is that's between the two of you is greater than a bodily urge."

Duo sat quietly rubbing his forehead then sighed, "You do realize this makes no sense?"

Quatre let out a breathy chuckle and looked thoughtful before he turned to Duo with a smirk, "Do matters of the heart ever do?"

Duo dropped backward onto the bed with a dramatic sigh, his arms crossing over his forehead and his torso at an angle that if Quatre decided to lay back he would be laying on top of him. Duo didn't try to move so he watched the back of Quatre's head.

"I think I might l-care for him."

"I know."

"But he's with Relena."

Quatre made a face.

"I know, not like that. After we … we_ almost_..."

"Completed your bond? Joined? Mated?" Quatre supplied helpfully with a mischievous smirk. "Hmm, I take back the bond part because neither I nor Wu Fei would allow that until you are aware of who are. So perhaps, fu-"

"Quat!"

Quatre snickered and Duo would've kicked him off the bed if his weren't folded under him. "That sounds so wrong coming from you."

Quatre gave him an innocent look, "What? Fu-"

Duo shot up and covered his mouth. Quatre laughed behind his hand, "I know you guys think I'm a wielder but I tried to make part of the ceiling fall on Wu Fei's head-"

Quatre moved his hand and looked at him with teary eyes full of mirth, "On Wu Fei-!"

Duo shook his head determined not to be sidetracked even if looking at the amused sparkle in Quatre's eyes made him want to laugh too. "Or the wind thing you do or anything! Nothing happens! But with Heero, when we got-_ whatever _back there," Duo gave Quatre a smirking glower, falling back to the bed, "I know he wants me and I just don't- what are you looking at?" Duo sat up on his elbows and watched Quatre look away from the ceiling.

Quatre smiled blandly, "I hadn't realized how empty my room was… but it's fine considering-"

"Quatre you can see!?" Duo interrupted, half yelling in Quatre's ear and hugging him from behind. Duo had them rocking and Quatre choked on the emotional flood from Duo but the cough turned into laughter. Quatre wiggled around in Duo's nearly crushing embrace to hug him back.

"I was wondering when you would notice?"

Duo sat back, appraising him with a smile so large it threaten to split his face in two. "Notice?! Quat you let me go on and on without telling me!?"

Duo shook him a little and Quatre's eyes, although somewhat red, reflected his happiness at being found out, "I'm not sure how long it will last. It is only temporary."

"How- Oh! You have a bonded?!" Duo looked thoughtful, "Well a potential one at the least, right?"

Quatre looked away, even though Duo didn't remember everything about their people, he knew what one could call implicit truths.

"No… Maybe." The giddiness he picked up from Duo made him want to giggle. It was almost dizzying being around Duo right now was amplifying what he'd initially felt but held in check because he didn't want to get carried away. He didn't want it to hurt when it left him sightless again. Yet, he was letting himself get swept up in it because there were few occasions he'd taken a moment for himself. Oddly enough with Duo at his side, it was getting easier and easier to do just that.

Quatre blinked, his brows arching slightly when Duo groaned suddenly and gave him a disparaging look, "Oh, please tell me it's not Thecla?"

"No!" Quatre laughed out and said it again, quieter this time. "No," his face was starting to hurt from smiling so much.

Duo regarded him curiously, "Then who?"

"No one as of yet."

"You know that's not what I meant." Duo smirked when Quatre's cheeks kept their red flush.

"I…" Quatre looked away from Duo's wide, inquisitive eyes, "I can't explain it."

Duo whapped Quatre across the back of the head with a pillow.

Quatre caught it before Duo could hit him again and laughed.

Duo smiled and fell backwards onto the bed again, "Heh, that's what I was saying!"

Tbc…


	12. Chapter XII

Unbeta'd  
Italics ~ thoughts  
Warnings: Angst, MXM goodiness, *snickers* wanton tongue action, lemon  
Pairings: 1x2/2x1, and the pen dabbles around a bit

Input/feedback is much appreciated and really helps ^_^

Notes: Thank you for reading and reviewing

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the sexies in Gundam Wing AC, I just love to help them live a little.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

XII

On silent feet, a shadow slipped inside a dimly lit room. He stood quietly, resisting the urge to go straight to the person he most desired at that moment, who lay spread eagle on the bed. He had one foot and his head hanging off the edges of the bed. The sheets ensnared one leg and wrapped around his slender waist. The room was quiet, except for the occasional snore coming from his open mouth.

Smirking at the bearlike sound, Heero scanned the room one more time and found it Quatreless. He pushed off the wall and walked silently over to where Duo lay. Heero was sure that the blonde was intentionally making it difficult for him to talk to Duo alone without any interruptions. His smile fell a little at the thought of Wu Fei's earlier interference. Cats are never so easily leashed and may have acted on his. He seemed to get some satisfaction from thwarting him… Duo shifted on the bed. He knocked off a few pillows and replaced his head on the edge with his arm then stilled once more. He smiled when Duo scratched at his clothed chest, the hand stilling soon after and remained resting on his chest. Heero stopped at the side of the bed and waited, watching to see if Duo would move again or if his street won, sharp instincts would alert him to his presence.

Duo's brows crinkled, before relaxing as he turned away from him, his long bangs fanning the pillow by his head and across his forehead. He wanted to keep watching him but Heero found himself reaching down anyway. He allowed his fingers to ghost over the uneven chestnut bangs furthest from Duo's face and head. Heero relaxed and repeated the action several times before he realized Duo's eyes were open. Heero flushed in the dim light, feeling foolish because he knew there was enough light in the room that Duo could see it. He started to withdraw his hand when Duo caught his wrist. Heero let himself get lost in the heavy lidded violets as he was pulled down. They were nearly face to face, Duo arched up to meet him and they kissed long, deep and messily.

Duo let his head drop back to the bed a lazy smile spreading across his lips, "You're going to stay?" He heard him whisper and looked up from those lush lips to see the hopeful expression on his face.

Heero grew tense even though he continued to lean over Duo like he didn't know if he should sit or stand. He shivered as Duo's thumb caressed the sensitive space below his earlobe. His eyes drawn back to lock with Duo's eyes as his fingers went to the back of his neck and rubbed the small indenture at the base of his skull. Duo drank in his reactions and pressed down to bring him back down to that tempting mouth. Heero allowed one kiss then grabbed Duo's hand and sat down on the bed.

"What do you remember?"

Duo gave him a curious look before a frown replaced it. He wasn't thrown by the change in topic. Heero half expected Duo to pull away from him but he stayed where he was. His hand holding Heero's back. That little bit of contact grounded him while Duo treated him to a frosty look. It made him feel like Duo remembered nothing about him- about them. Duo sighed and Heero winced, disliking the loss of control, of not knowing what to expect. Yet, Duo had always been like that. He had always been unpredictable.

Duo gave him a tentative smile and squeezed Heero's hand, "How are you supposed to be my stalker, if you're not here?" Duo shook his head, "I know that I'm a wielder, though I can't make any use of it. I remember that I had a family once and we were the original residents of Maheran. And…"

Heero waited giving Duo a curious look as he gave him a blank one. Duo said nothing else and Heero waited, his brows arching at the long strange pause.

Duo laughed, giving Heero a sly peek of his blue violet orbs through narrowed. "Just giving you a taste of how it feels to keep someone waiting when they clearly say they're going to _ say_ something then don't."

Heero rolled his eyes. "Idiot," Heero muttered fondly under his breath and got a raised brow in askance from Duo. Heero pushed onward, "what else do you remember?"

"I remember you, you pervert."

Heero flushed, his brows furrowing as he glared at Duo.

Duo smiled brightly, "Well, you are. You fell for an adolescent me, didn't you? And you still held that candle until you're what? 20?"

Heero shook his head, "No, Duo. Well yes, I've always... we bonded much too young."

Duo laughed and rubbed the side of his head as a memory flashed behind his eyes, "We got scolded so badly! They left with you that day and I thought I'd never see you again. But Ma..."Duo let out a sad sigh, "Even though our understanding of being bonded, the whole sucking the other's bloodied thumb thing, was the extent of that knowledge. Ma explained that you would come back, that your family would visit us again." Duo gave him a sexy smile, sliding up on his knees and leaned into Heero.

Heero watched Duo's smooth movement. _ Like a cat_, his eyes traversed Duo's lean form before catching sight of the tiny hard points tenting the thin shirt he wore. Heero resisted the urge to lick his lips, he knew Duo didn't have any feline heritage but still... Duo moving right now was very distracting.

"Snatched me up so I can be no others', ay? Pervert, I'm not that little boy anymore. Are you sure you still want me?" Heero's eyes snapped to Duo's face and then to his tongue as it snuck out to wet his bottom lip. Duo stopped, no doubt catching the look Heero had given him and chuckled, his brows crinkling slightly as he traced the shell of Heero's ear with his free hand, "You are unique? You had pointed fuzzy ears when we met."

"Yes, a sore point for the clan warden, my family-"

"No," Duo's brow furrowed in thought, "no, you're a shape shifter."

Heero took Duo's hand away from his sensitive ear and kissed his faintly scarred palm, "No, I'm a mongrel."

"Heero-!"

Heero squeezed his hands in his and smiled derisively, "I am a mutt. After Maheran was changed-"

"Changed? You mean invaded. Betrayed."

Heero swallowed at the guilt over being a part of that ruin. He nodded at Duo's lost but contemplative expression, "Yes. A couple of years later, they saw what was happening to the world around them and Jirrad used me to lure others, saying that the One spoken of in the prophecy would be drawn to the strongest of seekers."

"But what it amounted to was me being bait when he could no longer find the wielders with the sight. Nanna's song carried wider than the words of the Monarch and I believe because of that, few came. Those who did come, were unstable - grief stricken and confused if not barren. I was taken twice. My family rebelled."

Heero shook his head to rid himself of the images his mind supplied and the nausea they brought, "I feared you'd come and he'd take you away from me. Even if I told him we were bonded, he'd use my deformity to challenge my claim to you."

Duo freed his hands and held Heero's face, "What deformity? Heero, you are..."

Blue violets roved his face. They settled on his eyes and Duo bit his lip before a smile bloomed on his face. Heero shifted, his pants were starting to restrict blood flow to certain vital areas.

"You are..." Duo coughed and sunk into his shoulders a little.

Heero smiled at all things Duo couldn't say and watched a blush inch its way across Duo's nose to his other cheek.

"You are perfect! Beautiful! You're far from being a mutt!" Duo blurted out quickly.

But Heero's smile soon collapsed into his standard blank expression. Heero placed his hands on the outside of the hands holding him, "I can't shift. I would've been a burden if my family tried to leave the clan. Only you and your family, outside of my own, believed - refused to treat me differently. No one from my clan wanted us to meet because of that. I was undeserving. We probably wouldn't have if my wondering hadn't brought my clan to yours, but I couldn't ignore the call."

Heero smiled dejectedly, "You were calling me. They had thought it was Relena but then you found me..." Heero lowered his eyes, hiding behind the thin slip of flesh that protected them but failed in concealing all he felt. "Only the best of our clan-"

"You are." Duo kissed him hard making their teeth clack and Heero look at him through his lashes. "Perfect. Addictive." Duo whispered against his lips and then kissed him harder. Duo slipped his hands through Heero's hair and down his back, pulling him forward until he was arching into him. Heero fell back onto the bed and their foreheads collided.

Heero let out a breathy chuckle, his eyes closed as he lay beneath Duo. Then he stared at him through lowered lashes.

Duo laughed with a wince, "Shesh! You drive me crazy, you know that don'tcha?!" Duo sighed with a lopsided grin staring down at him, "What are you doing to me, Heero?"

"Everything I can." Heero smirked fondly at Duo, absently rubbing his forehead before he flipped them over and buried his nose in Duo's neck.

"Haha-Heero!" Duo pushed on Heero's shoulders, pulled on Heero's hair as he kicked and squirmed beneath him.

"I can still smell him on you!" Heero growled into his neck and Duo laughed some more, the spot too sensitive to allow him to respond with nothing but more laughter. Heero ran his tongue down the side of Duo's neck, licking, sucking and scraping his teeth reddening the pale skin along the way.

"Hahmm-him? Who, Wu-Wu Fmm!" Duo convulsed beneath him, the laughter transforming into quiet moans and his fingers digging into Heero's shoulders and hair as he bared his neck to him. Heero ripped open the thin shirt Duo wore.

Duo gasped, hands reaching for the tatters that remained of the front of his shirt. "Heero, you can't keep ripping my clothes off!" The last turning into a half laugh, half moan as stared into his eyes.

Heero growled, moving Duo's hands out of his way and ran his tongue over the bobbing knot in his throat as Duo swallowed. Heero sucked and kissed it, feeling Duo shiver under him as he ran his tongue and nose across his collarbones. He then ran his tongue down and over one nipple, breathing against it.

"You smell like Quatre." Heero said gruffly against his skin as if that was justification enough for his actions before he sat up and ripped the shirt the rest of the way off.

"Unnha…yea, it's his shirt, his clothes...Hope he doesn't walk in…his roo-here let me..." Duo sat up too, undoing the lacing to Heero's jerkin and pulling his shirt open, buttons popping off in his haste to get to Heero's skin. Duo leaned into him and pressed a kiss to his mouth, while his hands ran busily along Heero's sides committing to memory every bump and dip. They wound their way back, slipping into the back of Heero's pants, rubbing -almost petting the skin there. Then squeezed what he could of Heero's butt. Heero pressed against Duo in response, rubbing the bulge in his pants against Duo's leg.

Duo relinquished the firm globes of flesh and began pulling at the lacing keeping the front of Heero's pants closed. Duo tore through one before Heero bit the top of Duo's shoulder, causing his fingers to fumble.

"Did Quatre ask you to come?" Heero asked huskily against the unmarked side of Duo's neck making Duo shiver in anticipation. "Don't come."

Momentarily stunned, Duo slowed in untying the last bit of lace. "Huh-What?"

Heero kissed the unmarked side of Duo's neck and sucked on his earlobe before speaking, "Stay here."

Duo nodded absently, a wrinkle to his brow but it was gone quickly when he finally got that last tie undone.

Heero caught his hands and held them in one of his as he pushed Duo back to lie on the bed.

"No!" Heero smiled when he kissed him but Duo hesitantly shied away from it, "I want to touch you too. I want to see-"

Heero silenced his protest with another kiss, and drove his tongue in and out of Duo's mouth, mapping the moist cavern. He ran fingers over the fading red marks peppering a line down Duo's stomach, over the bandage to the fine chestnut hairs leading from Duo's navel and disappeared inside his pants. He ran his knuckles back and forth through the downy hairs, enjoying the feel of Duo's skin before slipping his fingers beneath the waist band of Duo's pants and ripping them open.

Duo grunted, freeing one hand but it quickly became a throaty groan in Heero's mouth. Heero ran his hand through the hair of Duo's groin until he reached the base of his erection and ran his thumb and forefinger up the thick vein on the underside of Duo's cock. Heero hissed losing hold of Duo's other hand when Duo ducked down and latched on to one nipple, experimentally rolling the erect nub before he nipped it. He caught Duo, kissing and rocking against him as he trapped Duo's hand between their chests and recaptured the wondering one. He held them at the wrists between them before he put them in one hand again at Duo's chest. A thin string of spit popped between their mouths when Heero broke the kiss and sat back on his knees. He arched a brow, looking at Duo laid out before him, pants ruin, exposing his hard cock curving up the inside of his hip with precum beading from the pink engorged head. Heero sucked two fingers in his mouth before toying with one pert, pink nub on Duo's lightly muscled chest then tracing down Duo's slender, whipcord frame and back to the light dusting of hair trailing down to his groin.

Duo flushed at Heero's predatory look and tried to free his hands again while he arched and squirmed under Heero's touch. There was no burn this time and he didn't feel drained. There was just this feverish need to get naked and a need for more touching; definitely more touching. The back lit glow was back in Heero's eyes and Duo cursed when Heero ripped the pants from his body. The pants gave easily, leaving one leg trapped in the torn remains. Heero's nose flared as he shucked off his shirt, releasing Duo and worked on getting his pants off.

Duo sat up on his elbows, heavy lidded violets watching him intently.

Heero could feel Duo's eyes on him. He was well defined, muscles tapering down to his trim waist. He was larger than Duo but not by much. Duo stared like he was mesmerized at the play of muscle beneath golden skin. Heero bent over to take off his pants, providing Duo with a view of all his assets and missed as Duo's wide gaze narrowed with a mischievous glint to them.

Heero gasped quietly, jerking upright and looking over his shoulder into snickering blue violets.

Duo shrugged, a lopsided smile curling his generous lips, "Well, you put it out there." Duo rose up on his knees a little and smacked Heero across the rear again, "You see? Just asking for attention."

Duo let out a startled laugh when Heero tackled him to the bed. They rolled to near the edge but made it back to the center without falling both thankful for its wide expanse. They were on their sides kissing as Duo worked a hand between them to stroke the soft but hard and hot penis thrusting against his own.

"I want to taste you." Heero whispered against Duo's kiss swollen lips, the glow steady in his heavy lidded eyes. Duo shuddered and Heero slipped down his body to lick his cock from base to tip. Duo jerked in his hand when he teased the slit with the tip of his tongue.

Duo gasped, face flushed as he pulled at the bedding. "Uhh, t-tha-at's probably not a good i-idea... mhhm!"

Heero smirked laving the head with the flat of his tongue. The inflamed head flared, lengthening another inch and Heero sucked Duo into his mouth, tasting him and swirling his tongue. He looked through his lashes at the enraptured expression on Duo's face, his own lashes fluttering as his other hand worked behind him while he rubbed the tense muscles in Duo's thigh.

Duo's fingers were in his hair as his hips rose to meet him on the way down and Heero swallowed him deeper. Duo groaned and jerked, arching up, his fingers clenching in his hair as he came and Heero's throat worked to swallow it all. Duo panted, dropping limply back to the bed.

Heero crawled up Duo's body, dropping kisses and nipping skin as he went. Duo mewled and Heero smirked, Duo's half hard his cock was thickening again. He straddled Duo's hips, fingers working one pert nipple as he bent and sucked the other into his mouth.

Duo pulled him away from his chest by his hair, his eyes cracked open and Heero kissed him then he sat back on his knees over him. Duo smiled lazily at Heero and caught sight of Heero's erection. It was red, heavy and neglected, rising out of a small nest of dark curls.

"Mmm, let me…" Duo started to move but Heero had him in hand again, stroking him and he dropped back onto his elbows quivering at the extra stimulation to his sensitive flesh.

Heero rubbed the head of Duo's cock against his equally perineum. He relaxed himself, shivering slightly at the heated head against his opening. Heero swallowed, blotting out other instances that tried to steal into this moment as he sat down on the head of Duo's cock. He bit his lip when the head pushed through then stopped. He winced, Duo had either gotten thicker or he hadn't stretched himself well enough but he could go no further without pain. But he needed this. He didn't know if he'd make it back to Duo or what would happen in the mountains but until he could find his way back to him, at least he'd have this. Hands squeezed his thighs had Heero opening his eyes to meet concerned violets.

"This doesn't have to be rushed," Duo said hoarsely after staring at him for a long moment. Duo rocked into him, pulling the head out so that just the tip rested against the twitching ring of muscle before pushing the head back through. He stopped and started over again with slowly deepening thrusts.

"I'm not leaving you again." Duo promised, sitting up to kiss him, one hand buried in his hair. The fingers of Duo's other hand traced the bumps of his spine and sent icy tingles across his skin.

Heero moaned and shivered wrapping his arms around his thin bonded. He struggled to stop himself from dropping down on Duo's cock and to enjoy the slow burn as Duo inched his way inside of him, opening him up.

"You are not to blame for any of it. So don't go sacrificing yourself without my permission." Duo whispered. Heero stiffened over him inciting a moan from Duo as his insides tighten around him.

Heero glimpsed dark violets beneath heavy lids, so dark it was difficult to see much of either color in Duo's beautiful eyes. It made him give pause, his Duo was there but it was like there was something else too. Before he could give it anymore thought, Duo grabbed his hips, fingers sliding on sweat slick skin, and pulled him down while he slammed up into him. Heero screamed, arching backward and Duo followed, pounding into him. Heero shuddered; his toes curling as Duo alternatively rubbed over and hit a spot that sent sparks off behind his eye lids. Heero wrapped his hand up in Duo's braid, pulling him down for a long searing kiss. He tighten his legs around Duo's waist, pulling him closer and limiting his movement while he angled himself so Duo could keep hitting that sensitive spot as he rocked back against him.

He rocked harder into him, gasping as the muscles in his stomach tighten. He was close, but he willed it back to watch Duo pant above him, open mouth, over his own. He watched Duo's face contort in pleasure and found he couldn't hold back any longer. Heero bit Duo on the juncture between his neck and shoulder. Duo shouted and exploded inside him as he came hard between them. They clung to each other, each riding his own orgasm until they drifted into a dreamless doze.

Heero shifted at the puff of heated breath against his neck. He felt satiated, full and complete. It was a foreign feeling. He roused further when the other body moved on top of him. He tensed instantly as that body pressed into him and twitched inside him. He tried to recall where he was, who had used him and the best way to extricate himself without making the other aware or alerting Jirrad. While his mind worked, Heero's nose flared, scenting the air. He woke further, noticing first, the thick rope fisted in his hand. He traced the tight silky weave with his thumb and knew it was a thick braid. Then he felt the spent seed between them, his seed. It was a tacky mess that itched and he could smell the musk of sex, himself and...

_Duo_.

He relaxed, his body's building tenseness giving way to a jittery shake that he knew, if left unchecked, would grow into full body shudders. He willed them away, finding comfort in their intermingled smells and the rise and fall of Duo's back. He tried to see Duo's face but it was buried in the side of his neck, the rhythmic pulse of heated breath against his skin reassured him that Duo was sleeping deeply. Heero eased them onto their sides and shuddered at the feel of Duo's semi flaccid member slipping from his body. Duo groaned, lips brushing his cheek before he settled back into sleep and covered him with half his body.

Heero sighed, though it was uncomfortable, he wouldn't mind laying here with Duo through the night but his men were waiting. He felt around on the bed and found a shredded piece of Duo's shirt. He used it to wipe them off as best he could and the bandage, for the most part, had stayed in place. He wiped at it some more but it was sodden and sticking to Duo's skin… it was a lost cause.

Heero lingered beneath Duo, savoring the moment. His chin touching Duo's forehead, lips resting in Duo's hair and the heat of Duo's breath coming in rhythmic pulses against his skin. He nuzzled the top of Duo's head before untangling himself from Duo. Heero quietly slipped on his ruined pants and boots, looking longingly back at Duo, bare ass out for the world to see. Heero smiled endearingly, pulling up a thin sheet from the end of the bed to cover him. He indulged in one last kiss to the back of Duo's head and left as silently as he came.

Tbc…


	13. Chapter XIII

Unbeta'd  
Italics ~ thoughts  
Warnings: Angst, MXM goodiness, *snickers* nudity  
Pairings: 1x2/2x1, and the pen dabbles around a bit

Input/feedback is much appreciated and really helps ^_^

Notes: Thank you all for putting with the jumbled workings of my mind

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the sexies in Gundam Wing AC, I just love to help them live a little.  
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XIII

Duo rolled on the bed, eyes still closed in sleep and a silly grin spreading drowsily across his face. The memory of Heero- hot, hard and tight- greeted him while sleep slipped away. Duo's hand snaked out to the left of him, running over the cool sheets and finding nothing. A furrow formed between his brows and he felt the other side of the bed, there wasn't much space there unless he'd knocked Heero onto the floor and he stayed there. Duo sat up rubbing sleep from one eye and looking over both sides of the bed just in case.

No Heero.

Duo popped out of the bed, bare footed with a sheet tangled around his waist but falling fast. He bust out into the hall, looking around frantically and not seeing anyone at all. He started walking and just as quickly stopped, not even a foot from room. He kicked the wall in frustration. He knew Heero was long gone but that didn't mean he wasn't still on the surface. He looked up at the ceiling, the very place he didn't know how to get to. A startled sound then laughter had Duo turning around to see a pink faced brunette and a blushing blonde. He glared at them, not really meaning to include Quatre in the crossfire but the petite blonde held his smile. Duo huffed, eyes narrowing, not even Quatre's bright smile could lighten his mood when the very reason Heero was leaving him with arousing memories of his body, golden skin and his incredible mouth… He shook his head, trying to quell the heat rising in his face and flushing his body. He couldn't let himself get swept up in memory and sensation with Relena standing right next to Quatre.

Hand to his heart, Quatre sobered. "When you're ready," Quatre said sagely with a casual stride toward him, stooping at the entryway to pick up the sheet that Duo vaguely remembered being around him from the floor. "I'd like you to join us on our venture to the mountains. Now I know-"

"Are you kidding me!?" Duo nearly toppled the blonde wielder with his exuberant hug.

"I take that as a yes then." Quatre chuckled, struggling to pull the sheet in his hands up around Duo shoulders.

Duo let up on the hug a bit when he noticed Quatre moving and only hugging him back partially.

Quatre sent a quick look in Relena's direction, her face was still pink but she had her head tilted to the side slightly as if she was trying to see something.

Duo narrowed his eyes at her, moving closer to Quatre, his nose grazing the side of Quatre's cheek and his lips close to Quatre's ear, "What's wrong Quat? Did she do something to you?"

Quatre's blush deepen, his hand going to his ear as he put a little space between himself and Duo. "What do you mean?" His ears twitching as he went back to pulling the sheet over Duo's shoulders.

"She must have for you both to be blushing like you are." Duo's eye brows rose nearly into his hair in sudden understanding and then he leaned forward with a shocked whisper, "She's the one who helped get your sight back?! Your potential bonded?"

"What?! No!" Quatre bit his lips, glancing at Relena out the corner of his eyes who was giving him an inquisitive tilt of one brown eyebrow. Quatre's shoulders shook and laughter danced in his sea green eyes.

"Then why are you both blushing?" Duo drew back, looking between the two, large violet orbs giving them a speculative once over.

Quatre took Duo's hands and brought his attention to the sheet he was now wearing.

Brows scrunched up, Duo looked down and found a path of tiny little red marks that ran from the inside of his thigh to the inside of his hip. He realized, belatedly, he could see them without dropping his pants because he didn't have any on. Duo half smirked, pulling the sheet open to see what other marks Heero left.

Quatre interceded, closing it back with an arched brow.

Duo gave him a questioning, mischievous look. "What? It's not like you haven't seen me naked before."

Bemused aquamarines cut slyly to snickering violets, "That's not the point. We're out in the corridor and plus Relena is here."

"Oh, please! I've seen Duo's bear butt more than I cared too when we were younger."

Duo frowned at her familiar tone.

Quatre shook his head, "You're older now so I do think seeing each other naked... would be kind of hard to explain away with childhood innocence. I highly doubt Heero would believe it, where a certain person's concerned." Quatre looked at Duo with innocent wide eyes before giving Duo a devilish smirk, "He probably won't let you leave the bed next time."

Duo blinked, visualizing Heero dragging him back to bed… then the tying of hands with ripped sheets, Heero spread out and at his mercy... Duo dropped his head into one hand and shook it, "By the One, I don't need any help with visuals Quat." He peered up at Quatre through his fingers, "Geez... Your kids will get away with murder! I just know it! Hell, people probably won't know what hit them if they batted one cute, seemingly innocent lash."

Quatre snickered and batted his lashes theatrically, "So you're saying I'm that beguiling?"

Duo mocked groan, a grin plain on his face. "By the One-"

"You called?" Came Relena's impish chirp.

Duo had forgotten that she was still there watching and laughing. He frown at her, he had forgotten she was the One. The very person he'd been hoping to have the chance to talk. But now, his reasons to talk to her have changed. Actually, he didn't want to talk to her. He had the distinct feeling that he should be wary of Relena but that thought warred with the one that told him that she should be respected. She was the One but she was Relena and some reason that didn't add up.

"Heero won't hear of your sudden need to show off all your endowments from me." Duo glared at giggling brunette who misinterpreted his expression. Relena wiped a corner of her eye then crossed her middle finger over her index finger, "Promise."

Duo blinked at that, his irritation level dropping a couple of notches at the oddly familiar gesture. He stepped away from Quatre, brows wrinkling in thought as he stared at Relena who had her hair pinned up, the length overwhelming the pins and spill in to a waterfall of straw-brown hair that stopped at her shoulders. Quatre went into the dwelling and Duo shook his head, starting for the room himself when Relena spoke again.

"Duo, walk with me awhile once you're done before we meet up with the others?" Duo frowned at her and she shrugged, "Its not everyday family turns up."

Duo gave her an insincere grin, and then entered the dwelling.

_There must something wrong with her. _Duo concluded, _She goes from threatening to kill me to thanking me and now claiming we're related?_ He shook his head, "Cheh, wasn't that supposed to be the other way round."

"Hm?"

Duo started to shake his head, but realized Quatre's back was to him, "Nothing Kitty-Quat."

That earned him a bemused smirk from Quatre. Duo leaned against the wall and wondered what it would be like to have a family. Even if there was some chance he was some kin of theirs, he wondered if he could just pretend they weren't. Or better yet, he wondered if he could have her disown him. Millie, he didn't mind so much, not to mention he had invited him to come by whenever. Which was something he wanted, the guy seemed burden with a lot and then he wouldn't mind just being there to help when he could. He could probably even hangout with him since Relena would be leaving soon.

"Duo?"

"Yea, Quat?"

Quatre held up a smaller less cumbersome bandage and gestured to the clothes on the bed. "Want to go with me to the bathing chamber and I'll help change that bandage?"

Duo snorted as he pushed off the wall to stalk toward the bed, even though he was grateful for Quatre's thoughtfulness, "Is that a nice way of saying I reek?"

Quatre shrugged, "No, just I need one too and I can change that bandage for you in the process." Quatre had a thoughtful frown on his face as he picked a long strip of cloth. "What's this?"

Duo looked at it a moment then blushed, taking it from Quatre. "Sorry. I'll clean up." Duo muttered, shoving the ruined pant leg under the bed covers and kicking another scrap of cloth under the bed.

Quatre turned wide aquamarine eyes on Duo, "Duo is there something you want to tell me?"

"Gahh, Quat! I'm dying here!" Duo flushed and glared, "You are not that innocent." He said, holding up a finger as if it alone would protect him from Quatre's innocent guise, "Put those deadly peepers away, will ya?! Geez just--I'll clean up, kay?"

Quatre snickered, nodding his assent and turning away. Duo dropped the sheet he'd been using to cover himself and began slipping on the robe Quatre had given him.

"Duo, wait."

Duo looked to Quatre over his shoulder and Quatre held up a palm sized, tear drop shaped blade with a thumb handle. "Where did you have that thing hidden?" Not at all threaten by its sudden appearance.

Quatre shrugged, cutting away the bandage in one deft motion when Duo kept his back to him. "Somewhere close." Quatre said with an air of mystery and a smirk in his voice, "It's sometimes necessary to get one to understand some boundaries are there for a reason and are meant to be obeyed."

Duo wagged his brows, "Oh, who got under your skin?"

Quatre laughed, giving the blade to Duo with an amused shake of his head. "You can have that, if you want, but this might hurt. Your wound looks like it healed into the bandage." He gave Duo a sympathetic look when he felt the wince and the pain that came with his touch even though he was being gentle, "You ready to reconsider having at least one of the healers from my city spare you this slow recovery since you won't let Thecla or Relena do it?"

Duo shook his head, "Couldn't this wait-" he grimaced, "until I was in the water… awhile to loosen it up?"

"And get blood in the water?"

Duo grabbed the tail end of his braid to keep it out of the way and managed a sly look over his shoulder, "You just wanted to see my-ah!"

"Done." Quatre smiled, examining the bloody cloth before giving it to Duo.

"You sure you don't want some more skin with that? Or perhaps a body part?" Duo griped while looking briefly at the soiled bandage before tossing it on the bed. After a moment he felt Quatre run his fingers lightly below his shoulder blade moving along the long scabbed scar and back down to the wound. "Feeling me up- Shit, Quat! Ya know that hurts right?"

"Sorry, Duo." Duo felt the fingers tracing his scar hesitate before leaving his skin. "This wound, how did you get it?"

Duo shrugged, the heat of embarrassment coloring his face, "I fell into a water hole… fought a water demon…" Duo said with a flippantly wave of his hand, "Yea, nothing doing! You know, we battled monsters everyday in Maheran!"

Quatre laughed, but it became a melancholy thing. He gave Duo a small smile at the ache in his chest, "Yes, I'm aware."

Duo sighed, ducking his head, "Nothing so grand." He gestured to his left side, "this happened in the bathing chamber and I fell into this hole in the floor. I think it used to be a hot bath, but the water level was too low and well… coming back up wasn't pretty."

Quatre blinked at him as Duo turned around to finish pulling on the robe. Quatre stopped his hand from going to his chest, "Oh, I see. They left you alone with the water."

"Heh, messed up my back pretty good." Duo muttered, evading an admission and shrugging a shoulder as if it didn't bother him.

Quatre shook his head. "But this looks sort of like a birthmark. It swirls," Duo felt his fingers tracing said swirl on his skin, "more like it kind of curls on it self like a scorpion's tail but it's real hard to see. Your wound is healing ok, though a healer should still look at it."

"Maybe." Duo snorted, tying on the robe and following Quatre out. "If I'm a wielder and all then, what's it say?" Duo smiled at Quatre's back.

Quatre shrugged, "Never seen it before. I can check with the oldest among us and see if he knows."

"The bovine caretaker?" Duo said with a wide smile and Quatre nodded, "Well as long as I don't have to go anywhere near the creature that tried to eat me."

Quatre chuckled, "No worries, I'll send someone to ask. Do you remember having a birthmark there?"

Duo shook his head, "Nope. An old scar used to be somewhere in all that, but I don't remember how I got it… unless it was a tattoo my parents changed their mind on."

"It's very faint but I can make out the basic pattern. Some of the clans did tattoo themselves and their children at certain ages, if not for decoration then clan solidarity."

Duo let the conversation drop and they walked on in companionable silence. He was used to not bathing, though bathing was nice. It wasn't that he was afraid he could drown and even though he had come close one time. It was more like he always felt something in the water, more so when he was by himself. Like the other day when he'd been sleeping alone in his room.

All too soon, the bath was over and Quatre left him to continue with preparations for their journey. Duo let his feet lead him back to Quatre's room as his mind wondered back to Heero. His smell, his brooding dark blue eyes and his wild but soft, dark brown mop of hair. Duo rubbed the towel he brought from the bathing chamber vigorously over his face fighting the heat that pooled low in his stomach at the very thought of tasting Heero's skin. He could feel Heero—

"Gahh! Damn him!" Duo growled into the towel. He wouldn't mind spending a couple days sealed in his room with Heero and nothing else. His stomach made a sound and he amended that thought to Heero and some food. Heero covered in something sweet and creamy... Duo shook his head, running the towel over his face and then twisting it around his braid and wringing it inside the towel. The sound of a throat clearing had Duo flick preoccupied violets up to meet sheepish cornflower blues. Duo picked up on her hands behind her back and raised a brow at her, throwing the towel over one shoulder.

"Hey," he said as friendly as a rock to the head but managed a faint smile to soften his tone.

Relena sighed, bringing her hands to the forefront and presenting him with a bowl of food. "You know I didn't recognize you at first." She smirked at him wistfully, "But Millardo knew who you were from the start little cousin but he wasn't sure of your allegiance"

"I'm not-"

"-little!" Relena finished with him, chuckling fondly.

Duo scowled at her, feeling off kilter and unsure of why he said that.

Relena smiled and held out the bowl of food to him. "I used to call you little all the time because you were a hand shorter than me."

Duo arched a brow, staring at it with a critical eye until his stomach rumbled lowly, tired of his hesitance. That earned another chuckle out of Relena. "I'm still going with you," he said, taking the bowl with a scowl.

"Heero does better." She quipped traipsing by him with a smirk over her shoulder, "Besides, I'm not asking you to stay. You think I'd go against Quatre?" Relena rolled her eyes at Duo's unconvinced expression as he started to answer, "Don't answer that! Coming?"

He glared at her even though a corner of his mouth quirked up for her. He threw the towel into the room before following her down the corridor. He was finished with breakfast by the time they came to another side corridor that opened to a hatch in the ceiling.

"Cover your eyes and hold your breath."

"Huh?" He hastily put his hand up, dropping the bowl when she opened the hatch and powdery sand drifted down on them. Duo cursed under his breath and coughed when the fine grit went up his nose.

"Told ya to-"

"I don't have to be here." Duo reminded her with a tight smile and she closed her mouth, lips twisting into a peevish pout.

Relena went outside and Duo stayed where he was, debating on whether to just go back down and find Quatre. He decided he would if Relena so much as said anything to him about hesitating or peeked down at him through the hatch. She didn't. Duo climbed out and found Relena sitting, her legs crisscrossed in front of her several feet away from the hatch. She stared off and Duo sat on the sandy shelf, an arm's length away from her.

"I never thought we'd find more family here." She flicked sand at Duo where her fingers were buried and Duo snorted, brushing the sand off his arm and folding his arms over his bent knees. She shifted her fingers through the sand and began again, "We are in tune with nature and in a sense with each other but I couldn't sense you. I still can't. We were thinking, Milliardo and I, that you can't wield because you don't remember how... But Millie doesn't remember what you wield and the strange thing is that you don't have a birthmark." She smacked one fisted hand into the other, a triumphant look brightening her face, "That's it! That's why Heero doesn't know what you wield or can use it because you can't either!" She nodded to herself.

Duo rolled his eyes not wanting to acknowledge what she said but he had to admit it did explain why he couldn't do anything... kind of. He stared down at his hand, then followed a slip of sand was blown off his hand and danced a moment in the air before it was swept off the shelf. He followed it, staring off into the vast desert his eyes catching then tracking a swirling ring of sand. He watched the dance dissipate then start up again somewhere else as the wind hopped from dune to sandy shelf. It disappeared toward the luminous mountains in the distance. Duo's mind went back to Quatre's awesome display in the living cloud of sand that seemed like it went on into the sky forever. No matter how many times he tried to even shift the sand beneath his hand, nothing came of it.

Relena glanced at Duo, who sat oddly silent and stiff at her side. She smiled mirthlessly, having heard from Heero the kind of life her cousin had been living while she... She looked down at her hand, watching the twinkle of tiny bits glass that some of the sand had become. Duo shifted and rested both of his arms on one bent leg, the other kicking loose sand off the edge of sandy shelf.

They both sat wrapped in their thoughts as the wind picked up, whipping her hair forward and Duo's braid from around his neck. Relena laughed, letting the wind blow the sand from her hand and smiling down at the dust left behind before putting her hand back into the loose sand.

Duo looked at her curiously.

"You're probably looking for them? For Heero?" She didn't notice Duo's hand dropping to his side, his fingertips trailing over the sand or the way the sand swirled then darken and clumped near her hand. Her eyes crinkled at the corners as she looked up at the sky in thought. "They're actually closer to the mountains and walking from here to there without aid of a good map or someone who knows the desert would be foolish. We'll see them soon enough. For now, you're stuck with me." She gave him a wide smile and Duo rolled his eyes again.

"I know you've been trying to use your ability. Actually, I remember you weren't very good at using it even when we were young." She gave him a fond smile, "Your mother always corrected me whenever I described what we do as wielders like that. 'We don't_ use_, it's a matter of will,' and she said you were doing it wrong and it wasn't coming to you like it should because we were always pressuring you to show us or showing off in front of you. But I wish she was here. I've been wishing they were all here so I can ask them… ask her why does it have to be like this." She smiled sadly at nothing, her eyes dropping to her lap.

Duo looked away from her, giving her a moment to collect herself. He had nothing to offer her for her pain when he couldn't even remember his mother's face. He was still adjusting to the fact that he had parents who had wanted, loved him even. He had... He glanced at her out the corner of his eye, he has a family still but he wasn't sure he wanted that family if it would cost him Heero.

"I wish she were here to explain things." Duo shared the longing he heard in her voice, "But we'll make do." She smiled at him encouragingly and he offered a small one that made hers a little brighter. "Being a wielder now is like being a container... a bowl. It can only hold so much, you know, before it overflows. Like Quatre, I have these moments where it's too much for me alone to bear," her voice dropped to a whisper and she sounded far older than she was. "I fear that one day I will end up like Quatre, even though it's different for me," she rested her chin on the swell of her shoulder her eyes fixed on Duo.

Duo's eyes narrowed as he met her unblinking stare. If she was fishing for pity or sympathy, he really couldn't see what she meant by the comparison._ This isn't just about her. She sounds like she's saying she's worse off than Quat? _ He was quickly becoming more and more pissed._ If this doesn't work, whatever they've planned on doing in the mountains, than Quat could…_

"But there are many earth wielders. I don't see how you would end up like that." Duo said crisply, distracting himself from that line of thinking and directing his ire fully at her.

Relena gave him a shaky smile, focus returning to her eyes as she turned to stare at the shifting sands below the sandy shelf they rested on, "Yes, as of now there are. Our people are disappearing. They are being killed. Those few I was able to protect through my Temple-" Relena shook her head, her smile turning bitter, "_our_ old tribal hall, can feel it too. And every time someone died, I'd run." Duo watched her face contort into a grimace of something more than pain, "Run without thought, out of the palace and into the desert beyond the farms. Years back, I put two and two together and figured out that their death, their murders were the reasons I could restore dead regions.

"Heero could stabilize me sometimes, act as extension of my will and disperse the buildup. But there were times when it hurt too much and Heero couldn't get to me to help level out the imbalance brought on by their deaths. I would run because I felt so full like I was going to burst and then stop in a place that was barren, empty to bury what was left of them into the ground."

She blinked rapidly with a dry chuckle, "And they praised me for it! They praised me for giving them new homes, making 'Utopias,'" she shook her head, "when it cost so many lives to make it happen. They don't seem to realize how I made it happen, just as long as it keeps happening. But I'm sure that if they knew they would help stop it like they did before."

_It's more like they don't care._ Duo glanced away. He didn't share her blind optimism. He knew the people of Maheran, lived among them and watched as they let urchins be taken away by the soldiers - like what happened to that girl, like he himself had done... But he hadn't wanted to risk being caught - lot of good that had done him in end.

Duo could see some of them agreeing with her but there were many more who let complacency and greed rule them. He stared down at the sand he sifted with his fingers and then caught site of where Relena's hand was in the sand. He frowned and watched her hand move through the sand much like he was doing. Some of it looked dark but there wasn't anything happening.

"Then..." Duo gestured to her hand near his.

She nodded before squeezing her eyes shut with a bitter smile and rose to her feet. "It's all about perception. 'A touch by me, anywhere,' and they have their savior. They see the good of our people and how much we love this world despite the cruelty done unto us."

Duo gave the sand he was playing in a confused look. He knew she had included him in her little speech about her people.

"The Principal-" she laughed cutting herself off and a wily smile, "_Heero _is strong, capable ..." She eyed him and he kept his expression neutral, refusing to be baited by her, "and lucky because you've found each other again. Just like I will find my bonded one day. I'm thankful he was around when he was. He helped me control my ability when I was senseless and kept me from going insane sometimes. So if I'm not imposing and he wants to help me...?"

Duo didn't reply and stared up at her instead. "I can't believe you're asking me something I can't answer for." He was half tempted to say no but Heero had left him to help her.

She shrugged, "Which is part of the reason, you two are so good for each other. You don't deny him his freedom or try to control him... Or dress him up as something else." She half snickered, rubbing at one eye then stopping to look down at him.

Duo smiled, eyes closed before he opened them to look at her with an arched brow, "You made him wear one of your dresses."

"Huh? Oh!" She smiled widely, "It only happened twice! And he looked so cute!"

Duo made a face at her cooing, "Right. That's abuse you know."

"No it's not."

"Then you traumatized him."

She smirked sadly with a shrug of her shoulders, "I didn't do that frequently only when I could get him away from you and never after... After everyone was gone, it was like I was there but not, being myself but not quite me." She messaged her temple as if thinking about it bothered her. "Jirrad said my eyes seemed sightless for awhile and when I went on my runs, no one could get close to me. No one except Heero. Jirrad said the priests immediately took me under their wing but he would've asked for guardianship if they hadn't gotten to me first."

Duo watched her curiously, there was a kind longing in her eyes that he recognized in himself any time he was around the Gaults. "You wanted him to take you in."

Relena's gaze slid to him from whatever she had been watching. She nodded, "I didn't know him like Heero did. He would run his hand through my hair, saying it reminded him of sun browned straw in the fields and treated me like his most cherished child. I thought it was the same for Heero. I never knew how Heero was treated when he was alone with Jirrad. Not until he told me a few years back and I had to..." Relena dismissed his probing stare with a laughing shake of her head that was strained even to Duo's ears. "Yes, I would have preferred the same for Heero," she swallowed thickly, emotions clashing in her eyes, "instead of him being under Jirrad's tutelage. Can you imagine, loveable me an ice princess?"

Duo gave her a skeptical look, her smile didn't even reach her eyes but he knew her pain for what it was. She was the One he'd wanted to talk to about his dreams. She was said to be regal, powerful, kind and beautiful. Yet, here she stood, scared and unsure of how to handle it all while the world she knew steadily crumbled down around her. He felt he could understand her weirdness from before and even sympathize a little.

_Maybe she__'s not really all that self absorbed, just overwhelmed confused and huma-!_ He winced, thoughts cut short by the pain arcing from the back of his skull.

Relena let go of his braid and got the full force of his glare. In that moment, he remembered a younger bratty Relena who had made it a point to torment him in exactly the same way. His glare lost its intensity as it fell into a put-upon pout.

"I asked you a question and I should be given an answer." She said haughtily, ruining it with smile, "Although, you can continue to stare at me all you want; I think I'm lovely too."

Duo chortled with a roll of his eyes, "Right."

She flushed a little at his unexpected laughter but smiled through it. She reached down and ruffled his bangs, earning a glare. "Come on, we need to get back and be on our way."

He smiled grudgingly, slipping in the sand beneath his hand and stumbling to his feet. He glanced back, frowning down at sand where he was sure his foot had caught on something but saw only shifting sand. Duo caught up to Relena, giving the sand behind him no further thought.

As the trap door closed shut and the displaced sand quickly recovered it. The sand where Duo and Relena's hands had been, darkened and bubbled even as the sand shifted trying to cover it. The windswept more sand off the shelf to reveal green stalks growing and bobbing slightly as the dark pool overflowed, spilling over its edge.

O----------------------OoO----------------------O

Duo dragged the heavy robe, altered by the carpenter so that it was thicker than before, along the floor as he met up with Quatre and Relena in the dining hall. He half wanted to leave the cumbersome thing on the table but a raised eyebrow from Quatre had him folding it and messily jamming it into his satchel that he'd found in his half furnished room. Something blackish gray fell out of his bag. Duo winced at a dull twang in his side, his brows wrinkled in thought. He remembered where he had seen and left the rigid, gray stone - in Heero's room on his bed.

The stone continued to spin at his feet. The action itself was unusual since its rigid shape would allow one roll before it was stopped and the spinning didn't seem to be decreasing any.

"Duo, what are you doing?"

Duo glanced up and saw Relena shrugging on her thick robe and looking at the gray stone with interest. She approached him and the stone stopped. Duo swiped it up, stuffing it one of the satchel's many pockets, "Nothing."

Relena looked at him oddly but let it go, coming to stand where Quatre directed her to, on his left side with Duo on his right.

"Got everything?" At the concession of nods, Quatre raised his hands, "Good. Let's go."

"Wait." Duo looked around at the vacant and the wall they were standing in front of in the dining hall. "So it's just us?"

Quatre nodded, "We're meeting them there."

"Oookay?"

Quatre chuckled, understanding the question inferred without having Duo voice it.

"Trust me, Duo. This is the cool part."

"Ok, on with it."

Quatre chuckled dropping his hands and Relena snorted, then blinked owlishly as sand rose up around them. She gasped when she saw them moving more then felt the motion. Duo seconded her reaction, glimpsing the wall fast approaching through swirl of sand in front of them before they were sealed inside the sand sphere completely. The interior was lit by several lichens rubbing together in a floating glass sphere above them. The glow caught on the bits of glass in the sand, making the interior sparkle and distributing the light.

As they travelled, Duo saw the grain of sand change around them from red-browns to darker brown, nearly black, gray and white. Duo cocked a brow, curiosity urging him to ask a question but common sense warning him that whatever Quatre was doing was requiring a lot of concentration. But...

"You know, I can hear you." Quatre chuckled, giving him a cut of one wry, backlit aquamarine orb over his shoulder. "I haven't heard from the caretaker and don't worry, to do this I am not pushing my limits. This," Quatre offered a small but grateful smile before looking straight ahead again, "is not me alone, several earth wielders in city are aiding us."

Relena made a face, "Millardo can't-"

"As a resident," raised a hand to calm her rising ire, "he is free to make his own decision. I will not-"

"Even at a risk to himself and his unborn-"

"I will not," Quatre asserted, demeanor calm but fierce, "deny him choice. Thecla is monitoring him and will intervene if he pushes too much. He is teaching, for the most part, the inexperienced that are unfamiliar with this skill and showing them how to overlap each other if one tires so someone else can take over."

Duo glanced over at Relena who glared at Quatre's back. He saw her start to speak and broke in, "He will be fine."

She stared at him and he kept looking ahead, certain about the truth in his own statement. Surprisingly, Relena accepted it, casting her eyes about in thought and allowing silence to take up residence as they traveled.

Tbc…


	14. Chapter XIV

Unbeta'd  
Italics ~ thoughts  
Warnings: Angst, MXM goodiness, gore, death, NCS and Mpreg in later chapters, just thought I'd bring up now so all will be prepared when it happens  
Pairings: 1x2/2x1, and the pen dabbles around a bit

Input/feedback is much appreciated

AN: Thanks 307 D ^_^ I've replaced it.

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Disclaimer: I don't own any of the sexies in Gundam Wing AC, I just love to help them live a little.

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XIV

Quatre held up his hands and the movement of the sand around them slowed with a gradual lifting sensation. The tunnel of earth and wind collapsed all around them to show it was still morning but late, judging by the raised position of the sun. In Maheran, Duo knew it would still be early, dark but warm. He shivered, redoing the wrap he had thrown across his shoulders at Quatre's entreaty. There was a chill lingering in the air here and it was sticking. Usually when the sun was high in the sky in Maheran it was hotter than piss out. The large white masses he always saw from the city at the top of the mountain seemed unreal. He had never seen that much ice in that color before.

"Yes," Duo could hear the smile in Quatre's voice that was followed by a friendly squeeze to his shoulder with a bit of shake, "this is something I wanted to see up close too!" Quatre said with a bright laugh that had Duo smiling beside him. It made him wonder again if Quatre was aided by more than his empathy and perceptiveness. "They say we may even see it snow!"

Duo shared Quatre's excitement but it was tempered by a familiar niggling sensation in his chest. His eyes sought out the source of that feeling and he found Heero turning toward them. Duo started to call to him but Heero stopped him with an icy glare.

"What is he doing here?" Heero was standing in front of them in two long strides. Cerulean icicles slid from him to Quatre.

"He's here of his own will." Duo watched them both as Quatre easily maintained his calm expression in the face of Heero's scowl.

"He is not needed."

Duo gaped at him, floored into silence by the blunt dismissal of his presence. He wanted to deny it. He didn't want to believe the slight had come from the man he considered to be his bonded but Heero's eyes were cold and emotionless.

Quatre held Heero's gaze and casually raised his shoulders then let them drop, "That's not for you to decide."

"Heero," Relena began tentatively, understanding where Heero's inflexible protective streak was stemming from. She had confronted Quatre in a similar brass manner without considering how persistent her brother could be and how he wouldn't be forced into doing anything he didn't want to do. She laid a calming hand on Heero's arm and eyed Duo's taut face with concern, "You surely didn't mean-"

Heero brushed her off, "He has no part in this!"

"Yea, why the hell not?" Duo cut in bitterly, "Oh, I get it. Because you say so right?" He gave Heero a dark smile that showed too many teeth. "Didn't we already have this conversation?"

Heero fisted one hand at his side. Steely eyes shifted to Duo along with the weight of his displeasure, "You should go back."

Duo caught the movement by Heero's robed side and arched a brow, rolling narrowed violets to meet angry cerulean blues. "Or you'll do what?"

Heero sighed, his hand unfurling in the length of that escaping breath, "Don't argue with me."

"Don't think you can tell me what to do." Duo riposted, brow arching as he invaded Heero's personal space. He tracked the rise and fall of Heero's chest and felt the tiny space between them heat up in a matter of seconds. "Just 'cuz we fucked," Duo whispered harshly, "doesn't mean you own me." He pushed Heero aside, resisting the need for more contact and dismissing his regret over the hurt he saw flicker in Heero's eyes.

He headed over to Heero's company who had kept at whatever task they had at hand. Duo knew they were aware of what was happening but chose to remain unobtrusive. They stood near their mounts and the Gua rested along one of several low ridges of intermittent rock and sand that led up to the mountain. Duo looked for where the mountain ended but he could see no end to it. He considered walking its expanse to calm his mind and distract himself from the blue eyed man, but then he saw Ethan. Ethan had walked past him to lean against a massive swell of rock, too engrossed in scribbling on a rolled piece of parchment to spit any insults his way. Duo smirked mischievously, eying Quatre briefly and approached the unsuspecting soldier.

"Me boy! Ye come t'join us have ye?"

Duo's gaze slipped from Ethan to Fraix. The big man smiled in greeting, the thick scruff on his cheeks rising with the corners of his mouth. Duo smiled curiously back, the play of memory making his smile grow as he remembered a younger, just as hairy man. He recalled how Fraix had made it a point to chase them in play or track them down when they went exploring and no one could find them. Then Fraix would toss them up into the air and catch them, one with each hand. It was a feat to see because eight year olds were far from light.

"Uncle Fraix." Duo's smile was wide and welcoming. The black beard man's eyebrows rose high on his forehead while his eyes held a speculative glint. Duo laughed and rubbed the side of his temple then tapped it for emphasis. "I remember and yes, I know you're Heero's uncle but you're still family to me."

The big man scooped him up into a crushing hug and Duo gave it back as best he could. "U'cle," Duo squeaked out soon after, "you w'nt me t'live t'see t'morrow don'tcha?"

Fraix chuckled and dropped him to his feet. Duo's legs wobbled a bit but Fraix held fast to his arm. He kept hold of him until Duo looked stable enough and was breathing semi normally for someone who'd had their breath squeezed out of them.

"Good! It be good t'have ye back. Newt's been wondering what be taking ye s'long." Fraix waved him toward her and headed back to his own mount, surreptitiously wiping at his eyes.

Duo snickered, "Oh, has she?"

Duo approached said Gua who immediately nuzzled into his stomach and chest. "I say Sand Dragon is a better name for you." He rubbed his face against her soft, warm skin. He smiled at the feel of the low, pleased soundless rumble Newt made at his continued petting.

Duo felt the pull in his chest but didn't let it disrupt the steady stroke of his hand. "You have some serious control issues."

There was no response.

Duo straightened and glared over his shoulder, "I'm going and you can't stop me."

Heero scowled, piercing cerulean blues locked with determined blue-violet. Duo turned fully to face him and he kept the surprise from his face when he felt the soft material of Heero's robe under his hand. It was like he couldn't be near Heero and not touch him in some way. He closed the space between them, tilting his head as if he meant to kiss him or would allow himself to be kissed, and then turned to the side instead. Duo brushed his lips against the corner of Heero's mouth, letting the tip of his nose brush along Heero's cheek before he leaned in close to his ear. The wet sound of his tongue running over his lips filled Heero's ear before it swiped at his earlobe then Duo sucked it into his mouth.

Heero shuddered and Duo smiled, releasing the tender piece of flesh. "Don't think I don't know," adept hands found their way inside Heero's robes through his sleeves. They ran over Heero's sides, sliding tantalizingly back to cup and squeeze his ass, "that I'm still deep inside of you. Stop trying to control me." Duo gave Heero's ass cheeks one vicious squeeze, making him buck into him and gasp, "I'm not leaving. I'm staying with you. No taking mementos as a substitute for me."

Heero pulled Duo closer to him so they were pressed thigh to thigh, groin to groin and almost chest to chest. The robes concealed their closeness, making it appear as though Duo was hugging Heero.

Duo gazed at him through lowered lashes, a sultry smile spreading across his lush lips. "We could be making memories right now... Me and you, blockading ourselves in my room…"

Heero had a rosy tint to his cheeks and that telling back-lit glow to his eyes all offset by his stoic expression. The mask cracked in his next breath. Heero pressed his lips to Duo's, lightly brushing over them before swallowing and pulling back. His lips twitched into a small, strained smile then he nuzzled into Duo's hair, breathing him in as he spoke. "You are an idiot," he stepped back out of Duo's hold, a deadpan expression on his face before he walked away.

Duo blinked then frowned thoughtfully, his hands dropping to his sides. He turned back to Newt, trying to shake himself from puzzling over what had happen by busying himself with Newt's harness. Out the corners of his eyes, he followed the messy haired man as he walked to his mount seemingly unburden by the hard-on they both shared. Duo shifted, not having to do much to hide anything because the robes' billowy make.

"Start loading up!" Heero sent a scowl in his direction and rubbed Krídlo's snout, "We'll be heading out as soon as the harnesses have been checked."

Duo gave Heero a wry grin. Heero turned his back to him, seemingly focused on attending to Krídlo. Shrugging, Duo poured some water into his hand and offered it to Newt as he covertly watched Heero. Distractedly, he wiped his hand on his robe and gripped the harness bar then found himself sitting. Duo's brows rose up into his messy bangs, confused as to how he had managed it without paying attention to what he was doing. He was no expert rider. Newt shifting beneath him brought him out of his musings.

"You looking out for me, girl?" but his eyes remained fixed on Heero who was adjusting Krídlo's harness. Duo stopped rubbing Newt's snout when their eyes met. He could see the promise in those cerulean depths, feel the heat of where Heero's fingers had been on his skin. He wanted that again. He started to pull off his robe and decided Heero would be walking like a well laid man by the time he was done with him.

"Duo!"

He jumped in his harness, "What!" lust driven haze, faded slightly, but he couldn't take his eyes off of Heero.

Wu Fei scowled at Heero who had turned to help Relena with her harness on Nue. He had seen the smirk on Heero's face and Wu Fei found he couldn't fault him for that because part of the reason why he himself was smirking was Duo's flustered state.

"Did you not just recover from a fever? Are you trying to get sick on purpose?" Wu Fei snapped, gesturing to the robe hanging half off Duo's shoulder.

"No." Duo muttered, petulantly. He fixed his robe then clapped his hands on his cheeks. He slouched where he sat, his eyes straying back to Heero when the harness abruptly jerked beneath him. He quickly hugged Newt's neck for balance and to keep himself from falling. The Gua settled just as quickly and hissed back toward him.

"What is it?" he sat back and stiffened at the body behind him. Duo turned and was face to face with a smirking Wu Fei.

"I tire of walking." the shape shifter said simply, his hands moving around and past Duo to grab hold of the harness bar.

Duo looked at the man, skeptical of his claim since Quatre and an earth wielder had sped them to this in a handful of minutes. He was sure had done the same for his most trusted friend.

"And you couldn't do what anyone else would do and ask?" brows arching into his bangs, Duo gave Wu Fei a dubious smile.

Wu Fei shrugged, "The lizard said yes."

"Humph," Duo rubbed Newt's neck and traced one of the thick black bands that ran down to her shoulders, "Since when have you two gotten along?"

Wu Fei smirked, "We've made amends."

Duo shook his head, unconvinced.

"I could smell you two..." Wu Fei leaned in close to his ear, the gesture almost intimate, "Were you going to disrobe for him right here?"

Duo's face flushed red, "And outdo the steamy looks passing between you and Relena over there?" Anything else he might have said was cut off by his own yelp when Wu Fei pulled him back against him, making Newt rear up and buck beneath them. Duo laughed, the sound cut short again by an explosion of air and dirt several feet away from them.

Curiosity aflame in blue-violet eyes, Duo watched the ball of dirt rise out of the ground then collapse on itself. He figured that was what Heero's crew had seen when they had arrived.

Wu Fei glanced at Heero's frowning face. He smirked knowingly when Heero's eyes dropped to his hand resting on Duo's stomach. Cerulean icicles attempted to stab him from afar.

"Focus." Wu Fei mouthed and Heero rolled his eyes away from him. Wu Fei had a small frown crinkling his brow when Relena approached Heero.

"Heero, I thought Fraix was going to get Hilde?" Relena inquired, eyes looking past Heero to the dark haired shape shifter who meet her gaze evenly then flushed when Duo said something and laughed. She smiled at Wu Fei who looked away, lips pressed in a thin line.

"Too risky."

Relena nodded distractedly, Heero picking up on where she was looking and noticing how she didn't badger him like she usually did when he gave her two word answers.

"Relena?"

"My lady?"

Relena heard them both at the same time, the latter stealing all her attention and saving her from being confronted by Heero for her lingering stare at the shape shifter. "Hilde!" Relena pushed past Heero who barely moved from the shove and pulled her friend into a tight hug. "Don't call me that when we're amongst family. I'm Relena, your friend, first and foremost." Relena said with tears in her eyes.

Hilde smiled and hugged her back, "Gotcha Rel."

Relena chuckled, her curious gaze landing on the robed, still hooded figure who silently watched her. Relena smiled, "Thank you."

The hooded figure's head swiveled to Quatre who gave them an indulgent nod. She pulled the hood back with a gracious smile curving her lips.

Relena's eyes went wide, "Sophil?"

"Yes, my lady." Brown eyes smiled at her, "I'm glad you escaped and made it safely to Master Quatre's care. Your hair doesn't look too badly with the bangs. Even now, my lady, it grows back quickly."

Relena's blush stole over the whole of her face as the memory of stopping herself from falling by inadvertently grabbing hold of Sophil's breast. She nodded stiffly, glancing between Quatre and her acolyte.

Sophil offered her a small bow before she turned to Quatre. She bowed again and kept it there as she spoke, "If you have no further need of me, Master Quatre..."

"Please, Quat, is fine-" Quatre began with smile then shook his head, changing his mind about the ineffective correction that he had said numerous times before, "That is -"

"Quatre," Relena pulled her eyes away from Sophil, "The proph-" her smile had a sour tinge to it, "Nana's song spoke of four wielders."

Quatre gave her thoughtful look and then a quick shake of his head, "Sophil can't stay. She has to keep them unaware of Hilde's absence. If she stayed," Quatre smirked slightly, "too many of her admirers would miss her."

Sophil shared a shy glance with Hilde before her face colored.

Relena frowned, "But if we want this to work-"

"Don't I count?" Duo hedged, wide violet eyes looking at them all with an air of uncertainty. "You guys said it yourselves, I'm a wielder." Duo pushed on staunchly ignoring Heero's eyes burning a hole into the side of his head. "I mean, I know I'm not a fully functioning one or can do anything, really, but it doesn't say I have to be, right?"

Quatre nodded, "If you're sure?" At Duo's faint smile, he returned his attention back to Sophil. "That will be all. Thank you and take care on your return."

Sophil ducked her head, smiling brightly at Quatre as she pulled her hood back up and dropped from sight into the ground.

Duo whistled, "Quat, you didn't tell you had a harem?"

"Duo." Quatre chided approaching the grinning braided man.

"What?" violet eyes lit up as they gave everyone in their party a critical once over. "Oh, ho ho! He's here isn't he?" Duo's smile nearly split his face at Quatre's pinkening cheeks.

Wu Fei arched a brow, nose twitching slightly, "Why are you saying 'he'?" He eyed the short haired woman with purplish hair that had an arm still looped around Relena.

"'Cuz, he is Wuffers!" mischievous violets peered around, considering the only two options – Tamien and Ethan. Quatre smacked him on the thigh, pulled his hood over his head to shield him from Wu Fei's inquiring eyes and climbed atop the only free Gua in their group.

_iPib/i._ Duo was surprised he remembered the brash man's name. He knew his type; Pib would sooner spit on him then help him. He also knew he was no longer with them and holding any type of animosity for the dead got you nowhere.

"Did you know?" Duo heard Relena ask Hilde in a hushed whisper that wasn't much of one as they walked past them arm in arm.

Hilde shook her head. "Da sent me a cryptic note. I never noticed anything about her before. Can she really be-"

"Yes." Relena smiled, stopping Hilde from bringing up the matter of trust, "We are amongst family." her smile grew broader, "You want to ride with me?"

"Mount up!" Heero called tersely, cutting Hilde's reply to a smirking nod. Heero glared hard at Relena for her reckless behavior before mounting Krídlo.

Relena stuck her tongue out at him.

Duo snickered and Heero arched a brow in question at them both as Krídlo twirled about with him on her back. A practiced move the other Gua mimicked to ensure their harnesses were secure.

"Let's be off!" Fraix agreed, squeezing his daughter in a brief one arm hug as he passed that lifted her feet right off the ground in a half twirl of laugter.

The Gua got them half way up the mountain when they began to falter. It was getting too cold for them to continue but they would push on if they were asked too. Heero and Tamien left their mounts and sent them over to huddle for warmth with the other Gua, walking off without a word to the rest of their party.

"Where are they going?" Duo asked the effects of the chilled air evident in the quiver of his voice.

Wu Fei pulled Duo's hood over his head, pulling down on it as he hopped down, not answering. Wu Fei searched inside one of the harness totes then handed him a warm thick piece of fur laden cloth. "Hide. Rub the Dragon with it to help keep her warm."

Duo smirked and started doing just that.

"They be looking for shelter for the Gua since they can't continue pass here." Fraix told him, rubbing his daughter's shoulders, lending her extra warmth even though she wore a robe similar to theirs.

Duo realized then that Wu Fei had no robe. He turned to chastise the shape shifter on his remark about him trying to get sick when he saw him shift. It was a fast change, one he barely saw happening before Wu Fei the desert cat stood on all fours in front of him. Wu Fei eyed him with gold speckled eyes before he stalked away, nose low to the ground, agile feet silent in his movement as he climbed a shelf of rock without displacing any loose stones and disappeared around a bend. Duo rubbed Newt with the hide, staring at the place he had last seen Wu Fei.

He let himself be distracted by all around him but his body brought him back to the here and now with a shot of pain from his hand. It was burning from the heat created by the friction of furred hide against Newt's skin. He examined his redden palm when he switched hands, rubbing slowly with the other and wondering about the strange quiver along his arm. It was a kind of urge to do something, so he focused on it while staring at the palm of his hand. Slowly his thoughts leaned toward finding a way to ease the burn so he pulled at the urge.

It was easy.

The quiver in his arm gave way to a pooling sensation in the palm of his hand. The burn eased, becoming cooler and slowly a bead of water formed in his palm. It was no bigger than a sweet pea but it sent an icy mist across his palm. He cupped his palm shifting it, everywhere the bead touched the redness and the residual heat went away. Duo gasped and it evaporated back into the air he pulled it from.

Duo rubbed Newt absently along her ear before stepping away from her, still staring at the palm of his healed hand. A dull murmur, like the one that had him half sleep walking because he had thought Quatre had been calling him drew him now to an outcropping of rocks. They went up the side of a snowy ridge with a thin mass of clouds curling about the highest peak five feet above his head. There was no free standing water he would likely drown in so he didn't resist the wordless call and started climbing up the slippery ice covered ridge. Duo reached the top, his balance precarious at best with his feet slipping as he reached up toward the white fluff and was zapped. He gasped, his feet slipping from beneath him and sending him tumbling three feet before his back hit the rocking outcropping from the start of his climb then slid down the windy, rocky face the rest of the way.

The hand he had touched the cloud with, the same one he had somehow healed shook uncontrollably in his lap. Duo jerked at the sharp jab to his shoulder and squinted at the rock that rolled off it as another joined it. Duo heard more coming and covered his head with his arms. His teeth chattered as fluffy snow plopped onto his face and arms. Some of it immediately became slush, sending cold streaks of water down his neck and back.

"Duo!" he looked up and saw Hilde run-stomping her way over to him. It actually looked pretty funny. "What are you doing?"

Duo blinked up, snow stinging his eye before sliding off his face. He felt a little crispy and cold at the same time but he managed to give her a puzzled smirk.

She pursed her lips at him arching a brow, not accepting his non-verbal response. "I swear! You are almost like having a little brother but worse! Always getting into something when no one's watching you and," she pointed at the rising peak, "by the One! What possessed you to climb that?"

Duo shrugged his shoulder, inadvertently freeing it if snow and smiled, holding back a snicker. He used the rocky wall to stand up, "Trying to eat a cloud, I think? You know you sound like someone's mom saying that." He said giving her a wide eyed, innocent look.

Hilde's eye brows furrowed, foot tapping but she stopped it as she thought more about Duo's comment.

Duo's smiled remained as he tried to shake feeling back into his hand. "It's damned cold up there. I always wanted to try to catch one when I was a kid." Duo looked surprised at himself and then wistful as the memory came to him fully, "Even though it was so far away it always seemed that you could just reach up and grab one. And somehow," Duo smiled looking up the mountain at the clouds that clung to its highest peaks, "l got it in my head that you could eat them. There were so many, I was sure we could all eat them and never be hungry or thirsty again."

Hilde snorted, turning away from him and sending an incredulous but softer look over her shoulder. "Yea, real tasty huh?"

Duo turned his back to her and sighed rubbing his hand and wondering if coming along had been a bad decision on his part. They had places, things he could do in the undercity that could keep his mind off the underground stream and away from Heero. Yet being here, the place he had been prompted to go to for so long, felt right.

"Hey, cloud eater!" Duo turned at Hilde's call and barely caught the chunk of bread she threw to him.

_I bet she was aiming for my head_. He held it awkwardly in his numb hand and gave her a questioning smirk.

Hilde gave him a cocky smile as she pulled her short hair back into a stunted pony tail even though more than half of it escaped to cup both sides of her face. She rummaged through her pack, then closed it pulling it over one shoulder when she spoke again, "I bet that'll be much tastier."

Hilde stayed at his side until Heero and Tamien returned. They had the Gua go back to the warm surface and moved on by foot. Suddenly Duo realized that Quatre lagged behind the group more than normal. He dropped back to meet him, immediately picking up on the blonde man's wrinkled brow.

"Quat, what is it?"

Aquamarine eyes looked to him. Even though they walked through the shadows the pupils remained unchanging tiny black dots in the sea of his eyes.

"You can't see!" Duo gasped out in a quiet whisper, "By the One, Quat, let me-"

Quatre shook his head, waving Duo away while he tried to walk normally on the uneven, rocky ground he couldn't see. "I said it before, I knew it would happen eventually."

Duo bit his lip, fisting his hands at his sides to stop from reaching out and helping the stubborn blonde wielder. Duo heard Quatre mutter under his breath just as he tripped then floated back upright. From there on Duo watched Quatre work on letting the wind guide his steps.

"You intended for me to be a part of this all along." It was blame free. Duo brought his hands up in a stretch then crossed his arms behind his head, forcing his eyes to focus on the robed backs several feet in front of them.

Quatre's eyes rolled to regard Duo's glowing form and offered a slight smile when he matched Duo's calm tone with that of his emotions. The blonde wielder pushed down the bit of guilty that flared up at automatically checking if it had been a veiled lie. He shook his head slightly in self chastisement, he trusted Duo more than he would normally trust any outsider and he hadn't lied to him once. His smile firmed, becoming more real and less guarded. "Why else do you think I would have asked you?"

Duo rolled his head back bit and looked at the sky, "Oh, I dunno because I make everything interesting and you'd be bored out of your gourd without me! Oh, and you knew I was pissed at Heero and you wanted to see me lay into him."

Quatre smirked, "That too."

Duo shook his head and eyed his scheming friend, "You good?"

At Quatre's nod, it didn't take long for them to catch up to the others. They came to a stop where the clouds were thickest and wrapped around the mountains' snowy peaks thirty feet above their heads. They started to pass what, on first glance, looked like a narrow fissure in the side of one peak just large enough for someone to squat down and walk through. Wu Fei went in to investigate, his sleek feline form easily ducking inside. Quatre, a little behind the others, surveyed the area and listened to whispered description of the wind gliding over rugged slopping side of the mountain. His brow furrowed when half the whispers disappeared as they flowed across the fissure. He started toward it when Wu Fei reemerged, the shape shifter's annoyance hitting him first and foremost. Wu Fei walked back out shaking his furry head and pawing at thick webbing across one side of his face and covering one ear.

Mischief alighted violet eyes, Duo squatted by the shape shifter with his forearms resting over his knees, "What is it boy?" Duo scratched lightly behind one web free ear, "Something in that little cave spooked ya boy?"

Wu Fei's growl rumbled out through a half purr, paw slowly working away at the web as he attempted to ignore the braided wielder.

"S'ok boy, you did good!" Duo snickered, rolling away from a claw extended paw as he swiped the rest of the thick web from Wu Fei's ear. "Sheesh! No more catnip for you!" Duo grinned, shaking the webbing free from his hand.

Quatre shook his head, directing them onward along the sloping side. Fraix took up the lead surprised to find footholds beyond the fissure in a sort of path that still looked like a melding of man and nature.

"This be the workings of an Earth wielder." Fraix said clapping Ethan on the back. They followed bearded man's direction up the steep incline with Duo quietly griping to himself. Hilde had given him a narrowed eyed glance warning him not to start up again but he couldn't help it. He'd fallen on his ass three out of four times and almost took Quatre down with him on the last.

"Shit!" Duo glanced up and couldn't help his cocky grin as Hilde scrambled back up to her feet. Hilde glared over her shoulder at him and smiled bigger for her.

"See, Quat, just deserts…" he trailed off, turning to find his blonde companion missing from his side. He looked around for a moment and confused, Quatre just leave him to catch up with the others. He looked back and found the blonde wielder standing a good distance behind them.

"Quat?" Duo called and immediately went back to the blonde wielder's side when he got no response. As he approached, he saw that Quatre was staring and standing in front of the fissure they'd just left. But from the pained look on his face, Duo wondered if Quatre was pushing himself too much. He stood in front of the blonde wielder and grabbed his shoulders, "Quatre?"

Quatre drew in a breath as if he hadn't been breathing. "It just disappears here... hear that…"

Duo frowned, the black dots were gone from Quatre's eyes. A snort to his right, had him glancing back to the others, Wu Fei on all paws whipped around Duo to Quatre, nudging at Quatre's legs in effort to get him to move.

"You had a similar expression," Duo stopped himself from glaring and arched brows in question at the woman he still couldn't believe was the One.

"What do you mean?"

Relena approached with a shrug of her shoulders and Hilde hot on her heels, "When I found you keeping my brother company, it was like you were preoccupied with something."

She started was a few feet from the fissure when Quatre grabbed his arm hard and gasped out, "Don't you feel it?"

"Feel what?"

Duo noticed Wu Fei making a grumbling sound but at as if he couldn't move forward. Duo frowned, noticing Wu Fei was a foot away from them and he coughed at the smell of decay drifting on the air. Duo's hand covered his face when a gust of rancid heavy air blew past with enough force throw him back if not for Quatre's grip on his arm. "Wu Fei!"

Wu Fei let out a yowling growl, body pressed as close to the mountain as he could manage but it wasn't enough. Duo saw Wu Fei's paw give under the strain, leaving red streaked furrows and gouges on stone and rock as the shape shifter tried to hold his position. Duo watched helplessly as Wu Fei was pushed back, rolling into to Relena, catching her off guard. Hilde lunged to catch her as Relena fell backwards, away from mountain side and toward open air.

Duo started to move but Quatre's hand stayed him. He looked into Quatre's eyes and found a swirl of color. The ring of greenish blue that separated his pupil from his eye had half faded, color bleeding into the white of one eye.

"We must go to Abbadon."

"Abba-what? Quatre?" Duo whipped his head around to catch glimpses of Hilde pulling Relena to safety and Wu Fei shifting back to his human form but still sprawled out on the rocky surface. He glimpsed Heero's shocked and angry face before Quatre pulled him through with him into the fissure.

Duo was blinded by darkness. He couldn't even see Quatre as the blonde wielder pulled him along to stumble after him.

"Quatre, what is it-ah! Is-fuckin' ow! Shit!" Duo limped onward after knocking his shin against a large boulder he couldn't see. He looked back and saw shadows moving against the crack of light they had passed through. He limped easier, the path smoother under his feet and he saw that they were quickly approaching a shaft of light.

"Quat, buddy, you can't keep _not_ telling me things here. This place already weirds me out more than you could possibly know right now." Duo sighed, squinting as a silent Quatre pulled him into the light. "I need you to talk to me... here." Duo looked on in astonishment, a mountain village with paths snaking up to enclaves full of recessed dwellings and wooden doors.

There were several lines of laundry crisscrossing along one windswept wall. Duo tracked what looked to be a tunic, he was too far away to tell, as a gust of air tore it from the line and he followed it up into the air until an icy sting made him close his eyes. Duo opened them again, his eyes going wide, as children ran past them.

To their far right villagers tended the field. A couple of young men, free from any task it seemed other than playing, wrestled in the mud but quickly broke it up when an older woman came after them with a stick. All the while, snow fell lightly but the village was so warm that it melted once it touched the ground.

"Mhmm... Duo, where are we?" Quatre was holding his head, rubbing at his temple with a frown furrowing his brow.

"I don't know..." Duo turned to the blonde wielder who looked up and stared on, surprise widening his eyes. "You can see them? I really don't know, I thought you would since you're the one who brought us here."

Quatre turned quizzical eyes to Duo. "What?"

Duo nodded and then jerked away from Quatre when a girl came running toward them, almost like she intended to push them down. Then she was gone.

Duo looked behind him looking for the girl and found a tattered shoe amongst the rocks and dirt. He bent down, picking it up and fingering the little strap's button closure. The button dangled from the rotten thread, his finger adding to much weight that the thread gave and the button dropped down onto a small pile of white sticks, dusted in gray earth. He looked at it curiously, picking up and blowing away dirt to reveal its rounded edge. A side of Duo's mouth quirked up, his eyes sweeping the ground, "Hey Quat, this sort of looks like…" Duo missed Quatre's indrawn breath, violet eyes followed along two long white bones, and one crushed, both peaking out through tattered cloth and stone. Duo stepped back, the small bone and shoe falling from nerveless fingers, "Quat-"

"Duo, I can't feel any of them. It's like they're not here. None of them are."

Duo met Quatre's eyes, the little black dots were back but they shimmered after one slow blink. "Quatre, I - your ears are bleeding!"

Quatre blinked at him once before dropping into a rocking ball, his hands flying to his bloody ears as he screamed.

Duo crouched down next to him and tried pulling his hands away from his head, "What's wrong? What's happening!"

_No way out_...

Duo whipped around at the whisper in his ear, still rubbing Quatre's back. He stayed like that, chin over shoulder, his blue violet eyes losing focus and becoming an inky blue. They moved in his sockets, searching for the source of the whisper, but there was no one near them. He tracked the movement of the people around as the once happy people of this city started to scream and flee.

He felt the ground shake and suddenly he knew the presences flickering in this place were mute. They were useless to them. They needed more than echoes of what once was. Then there was just him again and a hand on his shoulder pulling him to his feet and shaking him. Duo couldn't hear the person in front of him nor could he really see them. They were like a blob of something in his line of sight that was fast becoming a nuisance.

_There was no escape_.

A prickling sensation in his eyes caught his attention before two steady streams ran down his face. He understood what happened to the people here. In the next moment the indistinct blob of a person became Heero and he watched him with a detached sense of not really being there. He could feel Heero's hand on his face, his arm around him as he held him silently. Duo saw Quatre shaking against Tamien who was checking his ears with a murderous glint to his green eyes. Then Duo's eyes lingered on the pale Relena, shoulder to shoulder with Wu Fei and the shaken Hilde leaning heavily on her father.

Fraix had one thick arm across the front of Hilde's shoulders and covered her wide eyes with one hand, "Me girl. Me never meant for ye t'be seeing the likes of this." Fraix kissed the top of Hilde's head then ran his scruffy cheek across it. She turned into him, burying her face in his beard and shoulder with an anguished sob.

There at the edge of the hole, for that's what it was - made by some sort of explosive force, stood Ethan looking scared and lost. Duo wanted to call to his former friend but he didn't know how it would be received. He noticed a wide, dark streak behind Ethan's head. It was darker than dirt with a rust, reddish tinge. He followed it, finding other streaks that branched off and rejoined the main trail that led to another enclave. Duo's eye brows furrowed as he squinted at the white gleam along the enclave's high ledge and he thought it to be snow. The more he looked at the enclave on the face of the mountain peak they'd walked through, he saw that the tops were jagged, irregular.

_Bones…_ A carrion bird flew down watching them with eager eyes while another came and started picking through the bones. Duo watched it fly downward; there were bodies staked to the face of the mountain peak.

"Duo."

Some of them still had hair and skin that was blacken and peeling. One looked fresher than the others. It was shriveled with the head gone and a long rope of entrails hanging free from the open cavity of its stomach. The carrion bird pecked at it, flapping its wings to stay balanced while it acquired its meal. Pellets of ice struck the bird and sent it off with an alarmed squawk.

"Duo!" Heero shook him again, holding his face with both hands and blocking out the sight of the bodies with his face. Duo's strangely dark eyes met Heero's with their back lit glow and took note of a small red welt on his temple.

"Don't." Duo heard his quiet whisper and then felt Heero's thumbs running under his eyes then across his cheeks. "Don't leave me, focus."

Heero pressed his forehead to Duo's for a long moment and then he was trembling. Everything came into a sharper contrast and suddenly, he had a hard time breathing. He could hear himself gasping for it, panting but air wouldn't fill his lungs fast enough. His heart thrummed wildly in his chest and Duo felt the urge to get away. He tried to, but Heero wouldn't let him go.

"It's ok. Just breathe." Heero exhaled against Duo's mouth and then inhaled with their noses touching. "Copy me."

Duo tried, his eyes locked with those cerulean depths until they were breathing in time with each other.

"We need to get moving." Heero said calmly to the others, never relinquishing his hold onto Duo.

Relena swayed on her feet but Wu Fei was there surprising her with the gentle pressure to her elbow and side. She nodded to him and he released her arm, "This is nothing I haven't experienced before. I am used to this feeling. The imbalance…" she said with an airy quality to her voice as if she'd just realized something, "…they are not."

"Where do we go from here?" Ethan spoke up standing at Fraix's side, a frown marring his face. "This... Quatre doesn't seem like he can guide us any longer."

Wu Fei growled at the impertinent man and Ethan glared back, a trembling hand on his sword hilt.

Relena shook her head and Ethan removed his hand stepping back. Blue cornflower eyes with pupils the size to needle points roved about the ruined village. The dwellings that remained were charred looking and the land was blackened, cracked on the surface with a thin layer of grayish dust filmed snow covering everything. The farmland was littered by rocky protrusions, mounds of earth and hollowed dark pockets. She walked away from Wu Fei's side and into the center of a wide path that seemed to be the main road of the village. Relena dropped down to her knees, raised her elbow up to shoulder level and punched the hard, icy ground.

She ripped the skin on her knuckles but remained leaning over that arm as the ground the shook.

Quatre, surprising Tamien, pushed away from him and was by Relena's side before he caught up with him.

Relena met pupiless aquamarine eyes that were pale comparisons of their former selves.

"You understand."

Relena started, the semi trance she had lapsed in while staring at him broken by the doubled sound of his voice.

"But... you cannot see." Quatre said absently, a frown marring his pale face as his eyes flitted about the area. He watched residual presences flicker out and then his eyes met Duo's for a long moment before they rolled back to Relena.

Relena rose, holding her partially fisted bloody hand in her left one. "Quatre-"

"You are not." He broke in and gave her a vacant smile, his head nodding slightly as if he was agreeing with someone. "We thank you for release."

Relena nodded, shocky blue cornflower eyes focused on Quatre then she shook her head, pulling herself together enough to make her mouth work. "Who did this to you? To your clan?"

Quatre stared at her unblinkingly then his eyes slipped shut. Relena gasped, reaching out to catch him. She and Tamien kneeled beside the fallen blonde wielder, both at a loss with what had just occurred. Tamien turned Quatre's head toward him, his hand steady under Quatre's nose.

"Is this what usually happens?" Tamien asked in quiet monotone.

Relena shook her head, and then spoke when she recognized the tension in the way the silent man was detached from his own actions. It was something Heero usually did when he was hurt or trying to hide what he was feeling. "No. I've never had another wielder with me or around when my runs happened. This was, by far, the most unusual situation I've encountered." She smiled as Tamien tucked Quatre's head against his shoulder, then stood with him in his arms before she continued, "This place was stagnant. They've been gone a long time but they were still here; trapped really. Quatre is-"

"He's asleep."

"Were?" Relena started, too focused on Quatre to notice when Wu Fei had come to stand by them. Relena caught Wu Fei's hand twitching at his side, his eyes flitting between her and Quatre, then to their surroundings. "You said, 'they were still here.' What could hold them here?"

"Ghosts?"

Relena smiled her thanks to Ethan as he helped her to her feet, but not missing the tremor in his voice and the fear in his eyes. She patted his hand and gave it a gentle reassuring squeeze. "I don't know. The clan that was here was slaughtered and our people are still being murdered…" She squeezed her eyes shut when they started to wonder up the dry rust colored stains on the mountain's face. She swallowed, "…here. Other than that I don't know. I dispersed them. If wielders had come here alone before or were forced too... with no one to balance and ground them or help them cope however Abbadon affected them, they would've been overwhelmed."

"And Jirrad would have had to kill them because he couldn't control them. Explains why so many failed before. Did you see them? How do you know the name of this place?" Heero asked, approaching them with Duo barely conscious and dragging his feet beside him.

Relena turned away to avoid any involuntarily glimpses of the fairly fresh corpses pinioned to the mountain's face. "No. Quatre said it to Duo before he brought him here. I can't believe I felt none of it - them - until we got in here…." Relena trailed off, her pale face looked thoughtful and disappointed.

"What is it?" Heero whispered as he picked up an unresisting Duo.

She could tell that Duo's stillness was starting to get to Heero. She would speak with him later. Relena brushed her bangs back from her forehead and leaned on Ethan for support when she turned to look straight ahead, "Unluckily for us, this is the place we are seeking. We'll take this road and hope we find a more hospitable dwelling to recover in before we take our next step."

Tbc…


	15. Chapter XV

Unbeta'd  
Italics ~ thoughts  
Warnings: Angst, MXM goodiness, death, NCS and Mpreg in later chapters, just thought I'd bring up now so all will be prepared when it happens  
Pairings: 1x2/2x1, and the pen dabbles around a bit

Input/feedback is much appreciated

Note: I've edited ^_^, hope it's clearer now.

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Disclaimer: I don't own any of the sexies in Gundam Wing AC, I just love to help them live a little.

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XV

The walk was a short one, the paved road meandered out of the gully in the mountain that the village had made its home in and more than likely back out to the rocky, unpaved path they were initially traveling along. They came to a small outcropping on a high rocky ridge of a steep cavern that was only occupied by bats in its highest reaches. The entered cautiously, the interior had the remnants of being once occupied but dust testified to its long disuse. Duo's eyes were barely open slits as Heero carried him into the dwelling.

Wu Fei sneezed disturbing a hanging cobweb that dropped closer to the ground. He rubbed at his nose carefully, bandaged fingers stiff from pain. "Nothing lingering here. A few common dwellers, mostly small rodents."

Ethan looped around, eying Wu Fei with mistrust. He stopped at Heero's side where they stood in the fading light at the mouth of the dwelling. "It's safe and defensible with a weathered window."

Wu Fei glared at Ethan, following Tamien and letting his focus shift to the burden he carried. Fraix followed next, passing Heero's rigid stance and keeping an arm around Hilde who looked as if she were about to collapse. Fraix dropped two hefty packs to the floor at almost the center of the room where a round concave indention in the floor marked the dwelling's fire pit. He got Hilde moving and she stiffly removed the fire stones from one of his packs. "How be the air?"

Heero sniffed absently at the air, ears twitching as he tracked air flow through the dwelling, "Good." He grunted, dropping to one knee as he laid Duo down on the floor.

"Kindling?" They didn't need much to start the fire, the fire stones would keep it going long after the flames consumed all there was to burn.

Heero grunted his jerky movement away from Duo more telling to the people who knew him than anything he could have done. He felt Fraix eyes on him as he ran on automatic, bringing him the remains of sparse but burnable furniture. He knew there was more than enough to keep the fire pit going, but he found an open wood crafted bin near the back of the dwelling. He spun around in an angry kick and broke it apart in one blow, the release was freeing. The loud snap then clamor of the wood tumbling over itself, half muffled by my something soft in between, filled the silent dwelling and he stared at it. There was more to break. The wood itself sturdier than what he'd already given to Fraix and he broke it down, even as he glanced to where Duo lay and saw that his bonded hadn't so much as twitched at all the noise he was making, drove him on. It was still controlled and no one said anything to him about. He was sure if they had he'd be venting on them instead.

A final crack and Heero picked up the broken pieces, noticing the small toys it had held, most of them wooden or sown but no more than an arm full. He picked up one without really looking, gave Fraix the last of the wood and held up the threadbare toy that may have once been a bear to the firelight. He could feel Relena and Fraix's eyes on him as he examined it.

Heero frowned, running a finger over one shabby arm and feeling the seams give under the slight touch to let sand spill from inside. He didn't feel like covering the pain slowly etching its way across his face but he took a deep breath, the action itself silent as he shuttered away the pain from his face and let it burn behind his eyes. Heero tossed the worn toy into the flame, the smell of mildew tinted smoke filled mixed with the stall air of the dwelling. Heero returned to Duo's side, lifting the unconscious man so that his head rested on his thigh.

He knew they could tell he was sulking, even if his face showed none of what he was feeling. They could read him well enough, knew the subtle jerks when he pushed too much to rein in the anger. In the firelight, mercurial cerulean eyes swept across their party to settle on a pale shaking hand. He then saw Tamien's cover it to steady it as he brought the water gourd to Quatre's lips and Heero felt his anger return. The twitch of muscle in his jaw, his fingers twitching out of the white knuckle grip he'd had them clenched in to pop and flex. He narrowed his eyes at Fraix when he moved closer to him, keeping a hand in his daughter's hair and she followed submissively pressing to his side.

"Heero, we've come far. Done good."

He understood well enough. He didn't need to be reminded. Heero glared at his uncle and Fraix gave him a soft look as his attention slid from him back down to his daughter.

"We be wanting t'protect all we love. S'we sacrifice…"

He kept his glare, watching Fraix caress Hilde's hair. He knew what they were risking by coming to this place.

Fraix next spoke in a quiet hard tone that matched the resignation in the weary blue eyes as they turned back to him, "Even if that be the very ones we be meaning t'protect."

Heero flinched, eyes turning to the fire. Fraix had never wanted Hilde to be a part of this either and Heero had ordered him to send her the message to come, relying on Quatre to get her there safely. A firm squeeze to his shoulder and Heero had a hard time suppressing the apologetic whimper trying to force its way out his throat.

Fraix smiled and Heero found he couldn't resist, lulled into compliance by aged blue eyes too wise to be deceived, and his uncle pulled him over into a hug. "Heero, ye be me son. Never forget."

"Don't." Heero muttered into his shoulder, shaking as he let himself accept the comfort and give it awkwardly back.

Fraix chuckled, kissing the top of his head. "Ye never asked much did ye, me boy?"

Heero pulled back and knew all that he'd left unsaid could be seen on his face: don't leave, don't give up, and don't die. Fraix ruffled his hair, a stolen moment like he's had to hold onto countless times.

He knew he was being selfish but he couldn't help the anger that churned inside him. Heero's eyes slid back to the blonde wielder pushing at Tamien but then giving in when Tamien took hold of his hand and whispered something in his ear. Heero scowled as Quatre's drawn face turned to him and shadowed eyes stared at Duo then back to him. He wanted to pound the petite blonde wielder into the ground and Quatre winced, eyes still locked with his before Wu Fei blocked him from view.

"It was his choice to come." Wu Fei dared him to deny it with narrowed brown eyes, the gold back-lit glow flickering in the fire light. Heero didn't need a lecture from the cat and held back the snarl that wanted to curl his lips when those eyes turned to the incapacitated blonde wielder. "Do not punish yourself for this. We're all aware of the dangers."

_Did the two of them send messages to each other?_ He wondered, his eyes flitting between Wu Fei and Fraix, before they settled on the fire, _but who's awake…_ The bitterness curbed his anger as he fisted Duo's braid. Heero lay down beside Duo, leaning on one arm and sinking into his shoulder as he ran his fingertips over Duo's clammy cheek.

"Heero."

"What is it?" He blinked over at Relena, eyes heavy. He pushed on his mostly numb arm, thumb and forefinger rubbing at the soft shells over his eyes. Heero tried to sit up further but stopped when he jostled the weight on top of him. He hadn't even realized he had fallen asleep or even noticed when Duo had started using him like a pillow but a quick glance at Relena had his brow furrowing. She was smiling softly at him and he realized, he tried to dislodge the braided wielder but he had his arm wrapped around him. He watched him sleep as he had when in his bedchamber, sleep clinging to him enough to make his blinks slow and just watched him. _Another moment stolen…_

"..treasured." Morose thoughts interrupted, Heero glanced at her. Relena shrugged, sinking down into her shoulders and used the warmth of her body to warm her cheeks. "Anyone can see how much you treasure him. I saw it when we were little too." She elaborated with an impish smirk, "Did you have a nice nap?"

He snorted.

She grinned, "Just trying to help you save face. Don't want your men to know that you're a cuddlier, do you?"

"Shut up." He said only loud enough for her to hear. He nuzzled into Duo's hair, staunchly ignoring her giggle and the hot flush across his cheeks. He freed his arm, jerking it with a snapping motion, hoping to bring the feeling back faster. Heero stood up in a stretch, eyes going back to Duo briefly before taking note of everyone else, "No change?"

Relena shook her head, scooting closer to the fire.

"You should try to sleep."

Relena's smile was strained. She leaned forward, resting her head on her crossed arms resting atop her covered knees. She dropped tired eyes to the fire. "You know me, I'll nod off soon enough." then hesitantly, "Do you think the call stopped? I dispersed them and you saw how they used Quatre… tried to use Duo. Something they've obviously done many times before."

Heero looked at her thoughtfully. She bit her lip and didn't look back at him. He knew this was what she'd left unsaid earlier. His eyes fell on Fraix's snoring face, then Hilde and Wu Fei, who seemed to be guarding Quatre from a distance… there had been too many ears then. Wu Fei seemed unaffected at the news that this may be the last chance anyone has to make this prophecy happen if that was what they were going to do.

_Fraix knew…_His brows twitched at the thought but his eyes remained fixed on the shape shifter, who stared back at him, watchful as always. Heero could scent the traces of his worry on the air that even Wu Fei couldn't completely keep hidden. Black lashes lowered over brown eyes turned black pools in the firelight then he blinked, revealing that his eyes had shifted to a shocking brown speckled gold and diamond shaped pupil. Heero found himself transfixed as Wu Fei removed his tunic, the muscles in his back tense and flexing under tan skin. Yellow-gold patterned fur sprung up, thickening on every inch of exposed skin while his bones contorted underneath it all. The change was fast, Wu Fei settled into his feline skin with ease, grace and comfort in a way that woke an old ache of yearning deep within him.

It was something he could never do.

He was not like his uncle, who was born without it. He could shift halfway while he'd been a pup but the ability was lost to him the older he got. Wu Fei glanced at him and he nodded, both deciding they'd take up watch over the dead village together.

Tamien slipped in without disrupting Wu Fei's circular pacing, the air stirring slightly and Heero watched the shared acknowledgment between them he'd seen earlier. Tamien gave him a faint smile and then took up the position Wu Fei had left at Quatre's side but closer. Heero frowned thoughtfully at the twinge of guilt hidden behind it. Tamien wasn't one to reveal things, least of all emotions, without some deeper significance. There was something else heavier too, as the swordsman fingers carded through Quatre's hair and then rubbed a lock between his fingers. Heero's expression softened in understanding that he refused to see earlier, a reminder that one can gain and lose so much in a short span of time.

"This-"

Relena's quiet whisper, weighed with doubt diverted his attention from his long time friend and comrade's internal conflict.

Lost cornflower blues looked to him, "This could be…"

_All for nothing._ He finished for her mentally, understanding what saying the words out loud could mean. E_xcept for those damned dead spirits that had been trapped here. They got what they wanted._ They got what they had been calling out for and in return they sent them a sense of levity, leaving half their party incapacitated. _What do we do next?_ This is what, he realized, had left Relena so worried that she wouldn't let her exhaustion drag her into sleep.

The possibility that Nana's song was some stir-crazy, wronged spirits' trick to lure someone to this place to set them free was disheartening. He pushed the bleak thoughts away. He wouldn't accept that. Quatre was still of no use to them at the moment and Nana's song said nothing of this.

"It isn't." He heard himself saying in an authoritative tone that brooked no room for doubts. Relena nodded, some of worry lines disappearing from under her eyes.

_I__'m not losing Duo._ He told to himself, determined that they would all make it through this.

Ethan stumbled through the dwelling entryway. The skittish man half jumped out of reach of Wu Fei's snapping teeth. Wu Fei growled angrily, tail flicking fitfully around one hind leg. Ethan glared shakily, clumsy fingers fluttering along his sword's hilt as he walked backwards into the dwelling. He kept a wary eye on the shape shifter who slowly stalked out of the dwelling.

"Captain-?" came the near whine.

"Ethan, calm yourself. We are in this together." Heero rolled his eyes at himself, a little quirk to one side of his mouth at the thought of Fraix hearing him.

Wide eyes focused on him then narrowed as a frustrated frown quickly took over the skittish man's face. "How?" He pointed outside to where Wu Fei purposely circled the entryway with an intent look toward Ethan before disappearing from sight. "He-!"

"He's testy. Yes." Heero cut in, offering him a contrite lift of his brows as he gestured toward the fire, "But that's mostly because you stepped on his tail." He shook his head, "Rest. We've all had a trying day."

Ethan nodded, his pressed tightly together as he settled down as close to the fire as he dared.

Heero surveyed the sleeping figures and then his eyes lingered on Duo before setting narrowed eyes on Relena. "Sleep."

Relena arched a brow, letting a smile stretch her lips that didn't fully reach her eyes, "Got to love it when you get all brutishly one wordy on me then grunt and expect to be obeyed."

"Relena."

"Yes, my Captain!" She said brightly in mock sincerity, her fist hovering over her left breast.

Heero snorted and went outside to join Wu Fei.

***

"_Amadahy..."_

She twitched at the call. An ache she could no longer place pained her chest and made her arch up slightly before collapsing back down, her fingers slid through the warm sand on the floor. She could feel the phantom pain leaving, but the most promising thing was that she could _feel_ and _breathe_ without the ceaseless pain. She wasn't sick anymore. The nausea, lightheadedness and the constant feeling of strain in her chest had all left her. Her bonded… thoughts of him slowly streaked across the white blankness of her consciousness, giving way to the dark color of memory. It snuck up on her then and she knew the spoken word for what it was a name.

Then she knew it was her name.

"_...open your eyes..." _

She obliged with a shudder and stared listlessly into the flames she could feel no heat from. She was disoriented, the hard floor making the side of her arm tingle with numbness for lying down on one side for far too long. She didn't understand why she was on the floor and not the bed. She looked and found the mattress on the floor in a dark corner as she rose up and tried to walk on shaky feet.

_There was_… She reached out a hand for a bin that used to be there near the table, but there was no table either.

"_...full of hope_…_"_

They had said that once. They had said it together and the memory pushed away more of the white fog of forgetfulness. She closed her eyes and watched it play behind her lids. But they were alien her in this place she knew. It was like someone else was watching what should and only could be shared with her and her bonded when they had lived that moment. An echo of what once was and a life lost.

_The window_… she remembered the warm air but it was dark outside the ring of fire. She could barely make out the lines of her hands in front of her.

A sleeping body moved on the floor, hair that looked like amber in the firelight spilled from the hood of the slumbering figure and she fell back against the wall startled. There was a sharp ache in her side and back, making her wince. But she forced it back. There was a stranger in their home. There were several bodies on the floor and her eyes rounded. They had always welcomed others into their home but for him not to be here... For him to leave her with people she couldn't readily recognize, she feared something might have happened to him.

She could feel him but it didn't feel right.

"JJ?" the name caught in her throat at the sound of a male voice coming from her mouth and the twinge of nausea in her stomach. She turned toward the light of the fire, looking down at hands larger that weren't her own and gasped. _He-he… did it! _Her eyes caught movement over the fire, a roundish stone rose by the flames. She stared at it, dark but reflecting light and watched the flames die down around it.

Her mouth quivered, her jaw shaking, "Not like t-this. I never…" She bit her tongue; the blossom of pain cleared away her jumbled thoughts. "I didn't w-want to steal someone else's life s-so that I could live! I'll not call--" She shook her head, biting her lips to stop the tremble her male voice reflected. She backed away from the hum in her ears, the rock didn't move but she couldn't bear to hear herself or speak through him again.

_I never wanted this! It was-I didn't… what has he done?!_ Her hand covered his mouth, gagging at the sick feeling that engulfed her and she felt him. He was waking, confused and her skin broke out in a sweat. His legs shook and he was creeping back to awareness as she tried to push away from it. She reached for the wall to steady herself but she met open space. _The window…_ she came back to the forefront when they nearly fell half out of it, hands gripping the seal and panting, and an acrid taste burned in the back of their throat. She looked out into the Val that had been their home, the darkness of night overlapping her last memory of a once thriving village and the smell of decay weighing heavily on the wind making her see the ruin and place of death it had become.

_Dead…all that remains..._ She gasped, eyes burning with more tears and anguish then she had felt in life. She started as arms slipped around her waist, hauling her up. They were familiar to this body but not to her.

"Duo, are you ok?" and she let go, sagging in his bonded's arms.

Duo swallowed against the dizzying spin of the room and cloying chill under his skin. He dropped his head back on Heero's shoulder with a grimace, "I think… I-I'm… gonna… be sick."

Heero rubbed his back as he threw up leaning out the window then helped him rinse his mouth and drink from the water gourd. He stayed there leaning on the window seal and trying to breathe until his eyes got heavy. He felt gentle hands urge him away from the window, grounding him - keeping him there with his presence. Duo gripped the arms around him as Heero helped him lay back down by the fire. He floated on the strings of semi-consciousness, jerking back to woozy awareness when he stopped touching Heero or Heero would shift out of his reach. Then there was the chill and a miserable thirst he couldn't seem to quench.

"Heero…" his mouth felt gummy and dry, "more water… please?"

He felt Heero hesitate, then start to get up. Duo stopped him, holding his arm and pulling a pliant Heero back down to the floor where promptly stretched over him like a bed.

Heero sighed, shifting and trying to get comfortable in his new position as mattress. He fingered the hair at the top of Duo's head. "I can't get you water if you won't let me get up," amusement clear in his voice.

Duo managed a despondent shrug of his shoulders, dozing lightly in the warm glow of the fire. He slipped his arms inside Heero's robe sleeves so he could touch more of his skin. "There's water…" Duo's brows furrowed at the whisper of something at the edge of his hearing. He pushed his nose into Heero's robed chest, biting lightly at the material muffling his voice, "Mhm… water in the gourds by your shoulder."

Heero chuckled, "You drank those already."

Duo shook his head against Heero's chest, "There's some in them."

He could hear the smile in Heero's voice as he felt the body under him stretch on one side as he reached for a gourd. "No, Duo there's-"

The pause stretched and he thought he'd slipped off when heard the muffled swoosh of liquid inside one of gourds. Then he heard it hit the floor with a full _ploom_ sound. Heero repeated the action two more times, the _ploom_ sound was starting to echo in his head painfully and Heero still had one gourd in his possession that hadn't yet followed the other two. Or was it three, he couldn't be sure.

He heard the cork pop, a sniff followed by a cautious sip. "Water?"

"Hmm?" Duo raised his head, eyes half open and he gave Heero a sleepy but grateful smile as he pressed his mouth to the opening to take a long swallow. Heero ran a chilled finger down his throat, cerulean full with curiosity that he didn't voice. Duo pushed himself closer on shaky arms, eyelids heavy and he kissed Heero on the corner of his mouth. He made a face then tried again and got his chin.

Confused blue violets met laughing cerulean, "I'm never kissing you again." Duo said sounding put out, his bottom lip puckering before he let his head fall back to Heero's chest.

A cool hand glided along his ear then under his chin and tilted his head up enough to kiss him. It was light and sweet with Heero running his tongue across his lips. Duo shivered, tongue sneaking out to retrace where Heero's had been.

"Mm... Maybe not… never."

Heero snorted, pulling Duo back down to rest on his chest. The feel of Heero's chin on the crown of his head, strong arms around him and the sound of his heart, grounded him against the nervous tickle at the back of his mind. With a heavy sigh, Duo slipped into a dreamless sleep.

Tbc…


	16. Chapter XVI

Unbeta'd  
Italics ~ thoughts  
Warnings: Angst, MXM goodiness, death, NCS and Mpreg in later chapters, just thought I'd bring up now so all will be prepared when it happens  
Pairings: 1x2/2x1, and the pen dabbles around a bit

Thank you guys for reading ^_^ Input/feedback is much appreciated

Here some art work I commissioned from mayracs. Thank you again!

www. mediaminer .org/ fanart/ view .php /198381 or at LJ,- mayracs. livejournal .com /48366 .html ...no spaces

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the sexies in Gundam Wing AC, I just love to help them live a little.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

XVI

The feeling of being watched roused Heero without any change in his outward appearance. He inhaled, his arm instantly tightening around the weight on top of him while he retrieved a dagger from the inside of his jerkin with his free hand. Duo's scent was strong, unlike earlier when he saw him standing in the shadows. He remembered the sharp panic he had felt when he entered and couldn't see or smell Duo. He had inhaled, lashes fluttering at the remembered action, and only then had his panic subsided when he picked up Duo's scent, faint in comparison to another, foreign one. The foreign scent lingered with a stagnant feel, much like the feeling that still clung to the dead village. It was tinted with worry and fear, radiating from a shadowy figure in the corner. He had heard muttered words that he recognized as Duo's voice with a higher pitch. He forced himself out of his befuddlement and into action when Duo had nearly fallen out the window.

_This place!_ He growled mentally frustrated, the sound spilling into his throat as a low rumble. Heero peered through his lashes when the quiet voices increased in number.

"Da?" He saw Hilde sit up, short hair sticking up in various directions as she sent bewilder glances toward the low flames of the fire.

"How long has it been like that?" hidden cerulean shifted to Relena.

"You aren't doing this?" It was so quiet that Ethan's timid query, dripping of disbelief, was heard clearly by all. Ethan shifted in place, staring down at the blonde laying against Tamien.

"And what purpose would that serve?" Quatre countered in a bored and tired tone before he sat up fully, sending a discouraging look over his shoulder when Tamien tried to keep him from moving.

"I dunno. You could be possessed again. Or it never real-"

"And scare us to an early grave with a floating stone?" narrowed golden slivers focused on Ethan with a cynical smirk, cutting the skittish man off and effectively stopping the half panicked whine creeping into his voice.

Ethan shrugged one shoulder, animosity flaring in his eyes as he regarded Wu Fei. "Anything's possible. He could attack us. When he was possessed-"

Wu Fei snorted, pulling on his tunic. Thick, patterned golden fur still sheathing his skin, "With one stone!"

Heero could practically hear Ethan's teeth grind when the young man whipped around, reaching for his sword.

"Ethan!" Heero opened his eyes fully at Fraix's curt admonishment. "He done no harm then and none now."

"Then explain that?" Ethan pointed at the stone hovering over the fire.

Heero's brows furrowed as he stared at it and pushed himself up to a sitting position. His brows shot up into the cover of his bangs the same time Quatre gasped at the stone disappearing from the fire to reappear in front of him. It hovered nearly an arm's length away, lined up with his nose.

"Heero?" he heard Relena's stricken whisper as Ethan moved toward him. The stoned did the same. Heero raised a hand to halt him and the stone stopped moving forward. It returned to its previous position, swirling in place and the eerie feeling of being watched returned.

"What is this?" Heero said and frowned, studying it. It looked vaguely familiar.

"Don't know." He glanced at Relena, who was on her knees near the fire's edge and staring fretfully at him. "I woke up because I was cold and I thought the fire had gone out." She looked at the roaring fire, "But now it's fine and the stone never moved before now."

Heero leaned left and right, the stone moving with him but not trying to get closer. He hadn't realized he was squeezing Duo to him until her heard a groan.

"Don' meh, 'ro…" Duo groaned out groggily, rubbing his face into Heero's stomach. "You crushin' meh."

He eased up immediately, trying to push Duo off of him without waking him further but his bonded held onto him tighter.

Heero let his arm go slack, body becoming rigid beneath Duo's own, "Duo, go over to Fraix."

Duo frowned, rubbing at his eyes then shaking his head in the negative against Heero's stomach.

"Duo. Go. To. Fraix." Duo's sprawled form tensed and lifted his head. Anger laden blue violets, set in a too pale face and ringed by sleep mussed hair, glared up at Heero. Much to his dismay, Duo sat up, putting his head in the direct path of the stone.

"Not this shit again!"

Heero gasped, managing to glimpse the stone still swirling but following his movement slowly this time. "Go!" Heero snapped. He pushed down the panicked thought of the stone deciding Duo's head was an obstacle to punch through.

"No!" Duo growled back, the faint shadows under his eyes became more visible in the firelight. "Damn you! I'm tired of you being hot one moment then cold the next!"

Heero had both of his hands on Duo's face the next moment, his thumbs smoothing across his cheeks in frantic little twitches. He felt the faint traces of stubble just below his full lips. "Please," Heero's eyes flicked to the stone then back to doubt filled blue violets and he let his unease and fear show, "Please do as I say."

The anger drained from Duo's face, replaced by wary concern. "Heero, wh-"

"Not now," he said with an aborted shake of his head when the stone mimicked the movement. Heero licked his suddenly dry lips, "Duo, please go to Fraix and he'll explain."

Duo looked at him for a long moment then nodded stiffly. Duo glared at him from under his lashes, taking his hands in his with a squeeze. "If he doesn't explain, I expect you to."

"Of course."

"I mean it! I'll be back over here so fast-"

Heero freed his hands from Duo's, placing a finger to chapped lips to still their rapid movement. He let a small smile curve his own and brought Duo close enough to kiss him.

"Ay. Go."

Duo narrowed his eyes at him and started to move away from him, but Heero made him move in a sideways direction. Duo frowned at him, shaking him off and whipped around to see nothing.

"Duo!"

"What is it? If you think I'm gonna-!" Duo stopped, a queasy tickle in the back of his throat making him close his mouth and swallow. He glared at everyone as a hush filled the dwelling except for the sounds from the crackling fire. Duo arched a brow in confusion at their surprised and shocked faces. He searched the dwelling, finding no one other than them present. No one was hurt, that he could see at least.

No danger.

Quatre was looking at him with a bit of anxiousness and then there was this dark blue glint of light, flashing in his eye. Duo's eyes crossed at the rigid round stone swirling and floating less than a finger's length away between his eyes. He recognized it as the stone that had been in his satchel.

He raised his hand to it, his face scrunched up in a curious wonder. "What-?"

"Duo-!"

"Don't-!"

It dropped into his hand. A chill went up his arm and he twitched at the brief sting of pain from his side. The ticklish feeling at the back of his mind became a fluttering pressure and his fingers twitched, half curling over the stone. A feeling of belonging pushed to the forefront and he shivered, still holding it in the palm of his hand. Duo rubbed at his arm and frowned.

"That was weird." Duo commented absently. The nausea was gone and so was the thirst. He blinked up at the feel of eyes on him. Everyone was staring at him like they expected him to catch fire or something.

"What?" Quatre eased over to him on hands and knees. He looked like he was in pain. "Quatre?"

Quatre sat on his knees in front of him and smiled. "I'm fine Duo. Tamien's seen to that. Give me the stone?"

Duo frowned at how tense Heero was behind him. Heero's hands switched between squeezing and rubbing his shoulders. The action itself was more revealing than Heero's silence. There was no disguising the jerkiness in the nervous movement. He felt Heero's head press against the back of his neck with shuddering breaths.

_He's shaking._ Without a second thought, Duo dropped the stone in Quatre's hands and turned to Heero.

Quatre watched the soft glow from the stone pulse rhythmically in his hand then wink out. He watched it but nothing else happened. It was back to appearing to be a coarse, inert stone. He glanced around. No one seemed to have seen what he had or seemed to be using their sight. Quatre's ears twitched involuntarily, making him wince as he rolled the stone across his palm. It was heavier than it looked and cold. Colder than it should have been considering it had been floating in the center of fire pit and in Duo's hand.

It was time. He felt it was, the silent mountain thrummed with muted expectation.

"We should do this now." Aquamarine eyes lifted to them, pupils pinpricks in a sea of color.

Hilde shifted on her knees by Relena and eyed the blind wielder with skepticism. "Now? We don't even know what it is we're supposed to do!"

"The prophecy never said anything about a stone." Relena added with a nod, patting Hilde's arm in understanding.

Quatre shook his head at Relena, "You forget there are many versions of the prophecy and Nana's song mentions a stone while Nartob's version does not."

"Why would it react to Heero?" Hilde glanced at the once again expressionless man and Duo sitting beside him with his lips pressed in a thin line.

"I do not have all the answers."

"Then why are you saying we do this now?" Ethan piped up in challenge, "Why can't we leave this place?"

Quatre glanced down at the stone, brow twitching.

"What is it?"

He didn't look up at Tamien's query, an intense look of concentration directed at the stone's surface, "It's glowing…" Aquamarines flicked pinprick pupils over them before holding the stone up for their view, "There must be some reason it reacted now. We can't just leave when we're so close." Quatre shrugged a shoulder, "Obviously, this is the place we're supposed to be if it reacted to us being here or just chose to reveal itself to us."

"At the cost of what? Our sanity? Our _lives_?"

"We knew the risks." Quatre looked haggard, aquamarines glared coldly at Hilde. "It's preferable than returning to living a lie. Our people deserve to live like everyone else. They shouldn't have to live in worry whenever they step outside Acai that they risk alerting Nartob. Fear them finding out - seeking them out and hunting them down. You talk about the cost and our lives? What about the rest of our people? Who else can do what we are trying to do right now?"

Hilde's bottom lip trembled, mouth pressed in a pouty moue of upset.

"Can you do better?" Quatre licked his dry lips and let his shoulders sag with the weight of responsibility he had been bearing over the years. "Can you live each day knowing that the only thing you can give as protection, as shelter, to our people is by hiding them away from the world? Is that truly any way to live?"

Hilde opened her mouth to speak again, but at the gentle urging from the big hands on her shoulders, she rose up on her knees instead. She looked back at her father, pouty grimace firmly in place. "Da?"

Fraix chuckled with a shake of his head and leaned forward to kiss the side of her head, "Stubborn as ye be always, go on me girl. Ye know what we came here t'do. Best be gettings on with it."

She nodded, grimace melting into a sad smile as she glanced to Relena, who looked just as humbled if not haunted by Quatre's questions.

They took turns holding the stone, even had Duo hold it longer then the rest of them and Heero's steely gaze tried to burn holes through Quatre at his suggestion, but there was no reaction. They kept working at it until late in the morning. Duo plopped down on his ass by Quatre, ignoring the twinge in his side, sliding his hands across the cool stone floor and dropping his head back to hang off his shoulders.

"This is stupid! How long are we going to keep at this? I'm hungry." Duo whined into the air.

"Duo's right. I'm not going to starve myself for this."

"Hilde!" Relena admonished, giving the stone to Quatre who made it float above his hand.

Hilde shrugged, "I know you're tired too! C'mon Rel! You had to heal Duo and Quatre twice because I couldn't burn the damn thing right. It's a stupid stone! It's not like the fire rocks. It's like it's repelling me some how. Maybe it's just a hallucination from fatigue and what happened in that village. What we saw-" she cut herself off, mumbling to herself the rest in favor of not bringing back the memory of what they had seen and she wouldn't lose her appetite. Hilde snagged a piece of jerky from her father and chewed happily. "Duo," she broke the long strip in half and held it out to him.

Duo glanced at her, his pale face looking a little green at the flutter in his stomach. He shook his head, rolling it to rest on one shoulder. "Nah. Not hungry anymore."

"Brat." Hilde muttered with a curious glance and fond smile.

"That's it!"

"You're agreeing that I'm a brat?" Duo frowned, resting his head on his other shoulder at Quatre's exclaim and looking to the small blonde wielder. Quatre shook his head. Hilde ignored him, peeling the jerky strip into smaller pieces and continued to munch away.

Quatre looked at all of them before his eyes settled on Hilde, "Maybe you should try to slowly increase the heat along its surface."

Hilde glared and muttered, "Easier said than done. The stone's not even holding the heat of our hands from when we've held it for long periods of time."

Relena nodded, arching a brow at Hilde and held her hands over the stone Quatre kept suspended with a swirl of wind in the open space between them. Hilde sighed exaggeratedly, threw the rest of her jerky to the fire and followed. She glared at the rock, focusing on the stone and working at heating its surface while trying not to burn Quatre or Relena.

"You know, you said Nana's song mentioned something about four hands?" Tamien queried, at the nod from Quatre he continued, "Why don't you each put a hand near it in someway since all of you have to be involved?"

Duo's eyes rolled as his body copied the motion to get to his knees. "I'm pretty sure we tried that already." He placed his hand over the stone, their hands circling the stone as they sat in almost a semicircle. "It's probably not working because I can't do anything."

"Duo, it can't be that. I can't do anything with the stone either."

"Yea... Sure, Rel, if you can call being able to change the morphology of stone nothing."

Relena gave him a quizzical look. "No... I can't. Millardo's always been the earth mover and manipulator."

Duo shrugged, "You used to be able to do that when we were little. Anyway, nothing's happening."

"Because you're talking to damn much! I'm trying to concentrate here." Hilde glared and the air around the stone shifted, little waves of heat licking at their hands. Hilde exhaled, reeling the swirls of heat back toward the stone as sweat beading on her brow from the effort. Her eyes narrowed at Duo briefly as if saying in a twitch of her brow, 'if I have to take this seriously, then you have to do it too.' "Try clearing your mind and just focus on it."

Duo rolled his eyes at the short haired woman, who gave him a lingering glare before closing her own. Duo spared a glance at Heero before his eyes skipped back to the stone. He knew this was eating away at his bonded, but they had to do it. He wanted to do what he could to make it work. His brows furrowed, lips pursed a bit as he squinted at the stone with that one thought going through his mind; _We have to do this_. The tenseness eased from his face when he saw first the waves of heat radiating from the stone's surface then, as he continued to watch, he saw little flickers of flame curl out from its surface and back again. The rough ridges that made up the stones oval shape collapsed onto itself to form smoother sides and give it a more spherical shape. Duo bit his lip, the heat was getting worse but Relena was undoing the damage by healing their hands. He felt it then as the healing tingle made its way across his palm from where his fingers touched Quatre's.

His eyes grew heavier, the stone reflected tiny flicks of blue light that grew brighter as he stared at the spinning spear. He was the only one who still had his eyes open but there was this pull that made his breath hitch and the pressure in the back of his mind grow. Then he heard it, that inaudible call that only Heero's presence seemed to subdue completely. He tried to turn to Heero but his eyes fell shut before he could start the motion.

O-OoO-O

"Me be not likin' the looks of this." Fraix said lowly, staring at the four sitting in a half circle in front of the fire. The older man stood, moving closer to his daughter but left a good distance between them. Tamien had taken a similar stance, directly behind the unmoving blonde and looking conflicted.

Heero watched his friend, who was revealing more of himself than he willingly let others beside himself or Fraix see. Heero's wild bangs covered his eyes as he chewed on his thumbnail and found they were all tense. He flexed the fingers and fisted his hand at his mouth, his elbows resting on the bent sides of his knees as he sat cross-legged in the same spot where he and Duo had slept by the fire. He watched his bonded, letting the weight of his torso cause his elbows to dig into his knees. He ignored the sting. Duo hadn't moved for some time. None of them had and Duo's scent was wavering like it had when he found him near the window. The only thing that kept them from calling to them or moving them was the steady rise and fall of their chests. Then their breaths synced up. He had little doubt that the others hadn't noticed it and weren't similarly disturbed. The stone didn't look to be that anymore. It was a sphere of grayish black, hovering in the center of the circle their hands created.

Heero's breath hitched when Duo's scent disappeared. He jumped to his feet, "Fra-"

"Another."

Heero frowned, tense at the sound of Relena's voice but none of them had moved and he hadn't seen her speak. He glanced at Fraix, Tamien, Ethan and Wu Fei, nodding to each of them as they moved slowly toward the four in the semicircle.

"Another is needed." Relena's eyes opened to reveal solid cornflower blue orbs that looked onto them with an accessing glint. The movement of her eyes only noticeable by the shift of her lashes, "He is dying."

They stopped moving.

"Who?" Heero bit out, glancing at Tamien who was closer and looking decidedly pale.

"Another." Quatre jerked in place, pale lashes opening to blue-green slivers of uniform color.

The sight of Quatre's eyes had him glancing at Duo then scowling back at Relena. "There isn't anyone else."

"I could try." Tamien said stepping closer, his bottom lip escaping from the worry of his teeth.

"You are not-"

Tamien's eyes cut to Ethan and the skittish man's mouth quickly closed. Heero clenched his fists at his sides.

"Is that wise?"

"He's needed. I am not… so important. I can act as his adjunct," Tamien glanced at Wu Fei, "just take him and leave."

Wu Fei's nose flared at the command but he nodded in a stiff jerk of his head. Heero could feel his nails cut into the palm of his hand as he met Tamien's eyes and nodded to him as well. He knew that if Quatre was out of reach – whatever they had called would have no choice but to use Tamien. But he also knew that Tamien could barely wield the air that aided some of his deadliest, silent moves and once whatever was controlling the other four knew the extent of Tamien's ability, it would probably kill him.

"Náhrada* come." Heero swallowed and watched Tamien walk calmly toward Relena and Wu Fei crouch down in preparation of grabbing Quatre. There was movement to his left and Heero's eyes slid to Duo, his brows knitting when an absent smile turned up the corner of his bonded's mouth. His view of Duo was suddenly blocked by Fraix's broad back.

… _From four, two… _

"Fraix, what are you doing?" but his the bearded man didn't answer him. Heero tried to move but his body refused to respond. "Fraix?"

Quatre and Hilde collapsed backwards, groaning as their lashes fluttered before they arched and writhed on the dwelling's stone floor. In turn, Duo and Relena rose up until their feet no longer touched the ground. Relena's eyes were open, her face expressionless while Duo's eyes remained closed and that odd smile stretched across his face.

"Da…" Heero glanced down to Hilde's sickly looking face. She forced her eyes open as they tried to close on her again, tears escaping out the corners of her eyes. "No… Da, No!" She raised her hand shakily, reaching for her Father. Heero saw Fraix's hand make an abortive move toward her then shake in place, his head dropping back on his shoulders. Heero strained to move forward but nothing happen. He saw his frustration echoed in the others when he looked to them.

_Then two step One_…

Heero's eyes went wide as the last part of the prophecy came to him, but it didn't explain why his uncle was being pulled into it. He felt his heart pounding in his chest as he watched his cousin cry. He hadn't seen her cry in years.

"He's not the one!" He glanced at Tamien, whose face was curiously blank. Heero gritted his teeth, feeling ashamed of the decision he was making. _He offered to do it. He volunteered. Why is he… _he shoved away his couldn't doubt himself at a time like this. "He can't wield! Fraix?" Heero caught a glimpse of a cornflower blue eye and one dark blue violet eye before Fraix screamed.

"Sto-!" He couldn't breathe.

In that same instant, the light of the fire flared. Whatever had been holding them let them go and Tamien dove toward Quatre. Heero felt the bite of the stone floor through his pants as the familiar yet strange, shockwave swept through him and everyone else in the dwelling. This time, he couldn't make his eyes stay open or force himself back to his feet or even move. The light of the fire dulled. He suddenly had the urge to yawn. He was drained and knew something was causing it. Something important but it sucked away his will to do anything but fall into the dark eyes staring back at him. Then he wasn't seeing anything anymore as a tortured scream followed him into oblivion.

Tbc…

(Czech) *Náhrada = surrogate, substitute


	17. Chapter XVII

Unbeta'd  
Italics ~ thoughts  
Warnings: Angst, MXM goodiness, death  
Pairings: 1x2/2x1, and the pen dabbles around a bit

Happy Holidays! Thank you guys for reading ^_^ Input/feedback is much appreciated

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the sexies in Gundam Wing AC, I just love to help them live a little.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

XVII

A hush filled the dwelling. The tumble of rocks echoed wetly in the silence and the fire stones smoldered in the moisture thick air. One figure stood motionlessly above the fire pit. Thick wisps of black smoke drifted around their legs until a breeze from the remnants of the bare window made the smoke cower and fade along the stone floor. Half the dwelling ceiling and some part of the wall now replaced the small window, leaving a large pile of rock and dirt partially blocking the only other exit from the dwelling.

But that held little meaning to him.

Around the fire pit, several bodies lay strewn across the floor. The figure watched them through his lashes. His eyes settling on one tear streaked face. He watched her chest rise and fall then tilted his head curiously as a smothered sob came from her even in unconscious. He watched the short haired woman's dirt smudged face for along moment, and then followed a tear track to her eyes.

He thought for a moment she was on the verge of waking, but her eyes remained closed. The tears shimmered, pooling into beads beneath her lashes then escaping along the curve of a lash to roll down to the ridge of her nose. It sat there until another merged with it and dropped off her nose.

He was tempted to make more water flow to match the steady drip from the high ceiling of the dwelling but his ears twitched, the wind carried the mountain's whispered warning. Someone approached. He could feel the faint vibrations echo through the stone. Lips curling at the corners, dark eyes took on an intense look of concentration as the dwelling rumbled, moving four unconscious bodies through the stone and dirt before the dwelling settled again. The dwelling looked the same with one exception - the collapsed wall had widened. It had spread enough to make the interior darker, partially concealing his position and buried the body closest to it.

Water drizzled throughout the dwelling as the figure remained afloat over the fire pit. He tilted his head back to stare at the black sphere floating above his head and closed his eyes. The absent smile left his face and he became as still as the bodies in the dwelling.

O-OoO-O

Heero's hearing returned first. His body was tense and trying to alert him to something, but all he could hear was the sound of his own breathing. That soon gave way to steady drips resounding in the silent dwelling. He worked open an eye, squinting in the pale light filling the dwelling as his heart thudded wildly in his chest. He tried to recall how he ended up on the floor, looking about with blurred vision, but nothing came to him.

He pushed himself up on hands and knees that threaten to drop him as they shook under his weight. Heero glimpsed bare feet suspended over the faint red glow of the fire stones when he was stunned by a blow to his side. He cringed, trying to block the foot but another came at him from a different direction. Then another.

Heero dropped to his elbow and grabbed one booted foot and heard the snap of bone when he twisted it viciously in his grip. He blocked two kicks to the head and managed to catch another boot as his arm was knocked out from under him, forcing him onto his back. He flipped the soldier when he turned over, spinning the man round to collide with his comrades.

Narrowed eyed, Heero glared at the soldiers he had trained and in turn, trained with. The closest soldier stared back, his eyes locked with Heero's glowing ones. He was unable to react when Heero rolled over onto his feet and jab him underneath his chin with his own staff. The soldier fell but another took his place kicking the staff from his hands.

Heero's eyes flitted over the remaining soldiers as he curled into a crouching position and tried to decide what he would do next. The soldiers watched him warily, twitching at the groans from their fallen comrades.

"It's amusing, really," the familiar voice made the soldiers tense and move away from him. Heero resisted the urge to check his left side, spitting bloody phlegm in the direction of the remaining soldiers, "that you should come here to your father's village. Interestingly enough, you'd be surprised that I was happy here… once."

Heero's bangs hid the surprise that made his eyes widen as he watched his former mentor give the dwelling a cursory glance and the emotion that entered his face.

Jirrad chuckled, flat eyes distant and caught in memory's pull. He trailed fingers along the wall above Heero as if he held some intimate knowledge of the dwelling itself. "Your father," Jirrad withdrew that hand, pulling the sleeve down the arm and rubbing at the faint scar on his forearm. "Your father was a few years younger than you are but he was a bright, persistent child and at times a nuisance. Think, if I had taken him as my own… it would've been easy enough." Jirrad smiled down at him, "He adored us and a grieving me would… Let's just say you would have never been born."

Heero scowled at him, a low rumbling growl could be heard coming from his throat despite the sour acidic taste at the back of his mouth.

Jirrad chuckled, lip curling on one side of his mouth displaying unnaturally sharp teeth. Heero didn't back down and Jirrad snorted. "If not for him… you wouldn't be alive right now." Heero ignored Jirrad's penetrating look, too used to it to be disgusted. "He left you with me. In my _care_-"

"You killed them."

Jirrad waved him off, his mouth quivering for a moment before it was back to normal. "Let's call it population control." He smiled, "Can't have too many Yuys running around making more mongrel defects such as you."

"That's not true. My family-"

"The truth is subjective. It all depends on the teller you see. I trained you. Raised you and you failed me in so many ways." Heero shook in place, biting his lip in self hatred at the disappointment Jirrad invoked in him. He turned his thoughts toward his uncle. Fraix was a shoring and unvarying presence for the last five years of his life – there for him whenever Jirrad took out his frustrations on him. He could share things with the other man that he couldn't impart to Relena in his silence. "But I knew you were good for something boy - besides future parts."

Heero seethed internally, gritting his teeth against the memory of his family's eventual slaughter and the grief that attempted to blind him.

Jirrad gave the dark dwelling another once over, before dismissing it and turning back to him. "And you did it here?" He laughed and Heero wondered if this dwelling held far more meaning to the older man than he let on. "Of course Fraix wouldn't know this place. He was much too young and our clan nomadic by then. Yet, together you managed to figure out the prophecy or else you would surely be dead like all the others that have failed."

Heero glared at his mentor as Jirrad took pleasure in the death of others. He refused to believe anyone in his group had died. He wondered if the others had escaped and he had been… left. He took a surreptitious glance at their position in the dwelling. They were closer to the entrance of the dwelling than he remembered being, but the light in the dwelling wasn't from the outside. He accepted that they had no choice but to leave him since getting to him would risk their capture. Heero looked past Jirrad, scowl firmly in place, to find the source of the glow. His eyes settled on the glowing form hovering over the fire pit yet obscured from view by debris from a collapsed wall.

"Heero." Jirrad sneered in his face, long white hair falling over one shoulder as he grabbed Heero's chin and turned him toward him. "You disappoint me. Did you think you could keep Amadahy from me? Where is she?"

Heero blinked up at him, hand on his knee as he shook free of Jirrad's grip and stood. He was being called but there was no sound or words. He took a step around Jirrad. The pain screaming from various parts of his body and the threatening present of Jirrad was forgotten at the sight that greeted him.

"Heero?" Jirrad frowned, expression bordering on anger and puzzlement, but somehow missing the very source of the light in the dwelling. Heero understood how, though, standing in the light of the dwelling's entryway made the dwellings interior look dark, nearly black. The figure over the fire pit was so still that no one, not even him, would have noticed them there but he did now. The pull in his chest had him moving, but metal staffs descended upon him, knocking him down and into the wall of rock that had been obscuring the source of the light. Jirrad's hand was back, shaking him by his jerkin until Heero opened his eyes. But Heero couldn't stop himself from looking at the figure over his shoulder.

"Where is she…?" Jirrad's brows arched, noticing that Heero wasn't looking at him.

Heero saw it when it dawned on Jirrad, the way his eyes roved over the illumination on the arm still holding him. Then Jirrad's eyebrows twitched a smile blooming on his face, "You've…"

Heero grabbed the hand holding him when Jirrad turned to look over his shoulder. He looked himself, staring at the floating figure. Memory came to him then - Duo and Relena had both been floating in the same manner. Awed, the soldiers stood staring along with them. He saw one prone body and then another hidden… buried beneath debris. He swallowed holding onto the flare of hope that the lack of bodies inspired and that maybe some of them had gotten away. The clang of metal on stone, told him some of the soldiers had dropped their weapons and shifted, almost drifting toward the faint pulse of light that hid the figure's identity from view.

"Ama-" Jirrad jerked in his grasp, scowling down at him and then growling when Heero refused to let him go. Jirrad made a quick grab for his throat, squeezing until Heero's hand grew slack and throwing him down into the pile of rubble. "Keep him there!" Jirrad snapped and spun away from him.

Heero gasped for breath, recovering enough to block one staff before it could connect with his face, but he couldn't protect the rest of him. There were four more staffs, one hitting his shoulder before the others were shoved into his stomach and pressed down on it until he was forced to sit, curled up around them.

"Where is she?" Heero saw the white hair whip around Jirrad's head and then his wild eyes fasten on him as he strode over to him.

"D-!" …_Duo_. Heero felt his heart speed up in his understanding and the need to be at Duo's side made his eyes lose focus. He stared at his floating bonded through the fall of his bangs. He couldn't look away. He wouldn't say his name, and have Jirrad know it.

Jirrad grabbed his face and pulled him forward. Heero gritted his teeth, shakily gripping the hand that tightened on his jaw while he tried to ease the pressure of staffs pushing down on his stomach. "I see you succeeded but not without casualties." Jirrad hissed in a disparaging tone, "Where is Lady Relena?"

At Heero's tight lipped expression, Jirrad shook him before pushing him back. The added pressure from the staffs made Heero's head crack painfully against the dwelling wall. Jirrad scrutinized his soldiers, catching sight of a short haired blonde struggling to his feet. He nodded, sending two of soldiers who quickly bound the disorientated youth's hands behind his back. He snapped his fingers and a tall soldier disengaged from a group just inside the entryway. The soldier's hair was dusted with grit, slicked in a swoop over one eye. The eye was a distinctive, but blank green eyes set in a familiar face.

_The tour's conditioning?_ Heero's jaw clenched, swallowing down bloody spit at the sight of the unreadable face. It was the only explanation he had, but it did little to lessen the stab of betrayal.

"This is all that remains of your group?"

"Yes." Heero glared at the uni-bang traitor. Tamien stared back at him flatly, none of the friend he knew and grew up with recognizable in the man standing before him.

"And that boy?" Jirrad's head dipped in Quatre's direction. Quatre shook his head, blinking like there was something wrong with his eyes. His head rolled on his shoulders, fair hair and fey features partially hidden by the dirt and grime from the dwelling. "What happened to Relena and her brother?"

"A guide. He's the son of a merchant from the market who often traverses the great sands. He even helped us locate that errant street rat. The One, she may be dead. She was alone when we found her traveling toward the mountains." Heero saw Jirrad nod his acceptance. Heero kept his silence, commending the traitor on his quick thinking. Identifying Quatre as a merchant's son meant he could be released or sold back to his supposed merchant father relatively undamaged. He was pushed back down again when he tried to move and Tamien continued to reweave the events of their journey to Jirrad. "I am uncertain of Millardo, but when I came to, it is as you see - no trace of our two comrades or the One."

Heero glanced over at the blonde who was currently struggling in his bonds. One guard left Quatre's side to venture cautiously closer to Duo. Heero wondered if Quatre had heard Tamien and would play along. He knew he hadn't when Quatre kicked his one remaining guard's feet out from under him. The petite blonde surged to his feet in a run, but his steps faltered. He spotted Tamien standing unencumbered with his enemy.

"Tamien?" Quatre glanced around, noting Heero's position, the soldiers and then Jirrad. He glared at the white haired man, and then turned to Tamien. "Tamien. Wha-?" Quatre stopped his own question. A bitter and betrayed expression darkened his face when he realized what was going on.

The green eyed brunette said nothing, his focus solely on his superior as he was all that mattered.

Jirrad looked on in interest, a corner of his mouth curling slightly as he turned to examine the collapsed wall. Thoughtful eyes skittered over a bulky gray skinned arm and half bent leg where the clothes were soaked through, resembling a half empty sleeve. "There was a window here that we made for her when she grew too weak to leave our home. To see the sunrise…" He tapped the mass of wall and powdered rock peppered through the dwelling and along cracks the ceiling. "Trowa, take some of the men and go out toward the back… they could've escaped through here before… this occurred. Find the _Lady_ and we find her brother. They can't have gone far."

"Trowa? No," Heero watched Quatre's eyes lose focus for just a moment then the soft puzzlement disappeared from his cherub face and shock took its place. "I don't believe this…" he mumbled, large aquamarine eyes staring pleadingly at Trowa. "I-I… this …it wasn't… Tamien! Tam-mmm!" Quatre blinked down at the gloved hand over his mouth, deaf to the laughter around him.

"You broke his heart did ya?" the soldier holding him jeered, pulling him back and pressing up against him.

Quatre bit the hand covering his mouth and drove his elbow into the soldier's stomach, ending his laughter with a pained huff of breath. The blonde wielder then ducked under an out stretched arm, preparing to lunge forward but he was yanked backwards by another soldier who had caught his restraints.

"No!" anger colored Quatre's face and his eyes grew cold as he was forced to a half kneeling position by the soldier twisting his hands toward the middle of his back. "Let me go!" Quatre's voice boomed throughout the dwelling.

Heero's brow twitched, recognizing the shift in the air for what it was. A glance at Trowa told him the green eyed man knew that whatever suppression he had done to seal Quatre's ability was coming undone. Trowa crossed the short distance separating him from Quatre with stealthy and seemingly lethal intent.

Quatre started to push himself up and ended up coughing as the air rushed out of him. Teary eyed, he looked up and Heero could see the play of emotions across his face when he met cold, dispassionate verdant eyes.

Jirrad's lips twitched up at the corners when Quatre slumped after taking another hit from Trowa. The soldier holding him up by his restraints let go of them, letting Quatre fall to the stone floor where he curled into a quivering ball. The blonde's health had been a main concern to his former friend, but seeing him nudge Quatre with his foot and then unleash a brutal kick that had Quatre's back slamming into a wall, made him wonder when that had changed.

Jirrad chuckled, bringing Heero's attention back to him. "Enough. I want something to be left for Senjit to question before a healer needs to fix anything." Jirrad drawled in amusement as he motioned his traitorous friend away from Quatre. Heero kept from wincing at the deep wet cough that came from the crumpled blonde but Trowa didn't miss a step. He strolled away, signaling for several men to follow him.

Jirrad smiled. A smile Heero knew was tainted as the older man looked to Trowa with pride on his face but Heero couldn't stop his heart from sinking. With that look, he knew Jirrad felt he had succeeded with Trowa where he had failed with him.

"He's a spirited one," Jirrad arched a brow glancing at Quatre with a chuckle, "But a boy still. Take him as a token Trowa. After all he seems so taken with you, and send our condolences to his father for his services." He said with a dismissive nod toward Quatre, ever watchful flat eyes peering out their corners.

Quatre had managed to get up to his knees. He hunched over them with his head close to the ground while his dirtied blonde locks hid his face from view. Blood dribbled from his mouth in a steady stream that made Heero hope Quatre hadn't bitten his tongue. Quatre went limp when the soldier behind him yanked cruelly on his restrained arms.

Trowa nodded to Jirrad and grabbed a weapon from the soldier closest to him.

"After he's been thoroughly questioned," gray eyes switched from Quatre to Trowa, assessing his response. Trowa exited without pause. Jirrad graced them all with a full spread of lips and teeth. He gestured with a twist of his wrist toward the fire pit and two soldiers moved instantly, "Bring the One to me."

The men were five feet in reach of the calmly glowing figure who seemed unaware of the commotion about him when a crackle of light circled his body and shot down into the ground. The crackling light circled at his bare feet before it sent a rippling pulse of energy out shocking everyone in the cave. The two soldiers gave pause at the odd tingling sensation rolling across their skin, making their short hairs stand on end.

Jirrad licked his lips his hands shaking at the feel of the energy coursing through his body. He fisted his hands at the sides of his sweeping robe, hiding them from sight. "Go on," he bade them and the soldiers approached the still figure staring fixedly at the ceiling and a small black ball above his nose.

Heero peered through one swelling eye at the being Duo had become, awed and afraid at what it meant for Duo. Duo hadn't moved from where he hovered and Relena, Hilde, Ethan, Fraix and Wu Fei were nowhere to be seen.

Jirrad frowned at the two soldiers' backs when they stopped moving, "Why are you just standing there?" Jirrad snarled, irritated. "Bring him-" his order was forgotten when the black ball collapsed in on itself and went inside of Duo's nose.

Duo's head dropped forward, eyes open and staring at the ground beneath his feet. Dark lashes lifted higher, revealing dark eyes ringed in shadow that roamed over them all. The quick movements of the orbs in their sockets were marked only by the slight shifts of Duo's lashes.

It sent an uneasy feeling through Heero when he looked into them. Duo's eyes were as dark as the orb that had been floating above his head. They stopped on the two soldiers in front of him with a curious curl to his brow. Then the feel of it changed as if he were looking through the two soldiers who had stopped an arm's length away from him to stare at something else. Heero had thought Duo was looking at him, but even with the strangeness of his eyes, Heero could tell he wasn't. He was focused on the collapsed wall and Heero wondered what he was trying to say without words. Heero strained until he could see around the mound of rock in front of him. The soldiers allowed minimum movement but he saw it - a large hand on its side. A knee that didn't look quite right in the wrinkled pant leg and black hair spilling from under slabs of heavy rock.

"Fraix…" Heero gasped out before he could stop himself, the broken sound of his voice incited Duo's brows to twitch. Heero struggled against his captors, grappling with the staffs pressing him down.

Dark eyes flicked from him to regard them all with a small smile twisting Duo's mouth as if Heero had said something clever and entertaining. The two soldiers in front of Duo were simply gone; their clothing and arms dropping to the stone floor in a plume of dust. Black eyes rolled over them as the smile stretched across his face. It was empty without any hint of remorse or feeling for the lives that had winked out in front of him. It was the same look Heero remembered seeing on Duo's face before he had lost consciousness.

Three more soldiers, too stunned to fall back toward the entrance, made gurgling sounds and screamed as their skin bubbled and blacken before their eyes. It blebbed out then shrunk, shriveling until it started to crack open. They stared on in varying degrees of shock and horrified groans at the sight of their skin flaking away. Their weapons clamored loudly in the silence as they fell uselessly from their hands.

A fourth soldier shocked by what was happening to his comrades jerked in place. He blinked, realizing too late how close he was. Heero watched him move toward a group of soldiers, who immediately knocked away his outstretched hands with their staffs. They covered their mouths and discarded the weapons that touched the helpless man before exiting the dwelling. The soldier stumbled to a stop, bracing himself on his thighs at the sudden need for air and struggled to keep his eyes open.

The soldier groaned, his mouth making the crackling sound of dried parchment when he moved it. He shakily touched one cheek and they all watched it bulge out from beneath his fingers.

"No… no…" the soldier started pushing on the side of his face and anxiously met Heero's eyes. Heero grimaced and the man kept pushing, but it began to bleb out between his fingers like too much dough in a pie.

Heero heard footsteps approach him but he couldn't look away. He followed the tortured blue-gray eyes when they swung away from him to Treize, who was the owner of the feet he could see out the corners of his eyes, then to Jirrad.

"My liege!" the soldier called in a wheezing voice as he began to stumble closer and reach out to Jirrad, "Please... help me?"

Jirrad gave the soldier a pitying glance then smirked with a shake of his head. He stepped aside and gestured Treize toward the suffering soldier. Treize was quickly handed a blade tipped lance by another soldier. He tossed it from hand to hand, his expression contemplative before he gripped it. A flick of his wrist later, the lance whistled through the air and speared the man through his chest. The force of the throw had the soldier off his feet and sent him sailing backwards to burst into a swirling cloud of dust when he hit the stone wall. The lance clacked noisily against the stone wall until the wooden handle dissolved and the metal melted along the floor.

Jirrad laughed. He ignored the fear he smelled on the air and the slowly decreasing number of soldiers inside the dwelling with them. "One, you humble us with such a show of your prowess."

Heero watched Duo tilt his head to the side, his black eyes tracking Jirrad as he stepped forward confidently. He saw a soldier detached himself from Treize's side like a shadow and grab him by his jerkin. Heero had only a moment to realize that he had somehow freed himself and was making his way toward Duo, when he was slammed into the wall. He was slammed against the wall again, making pain explode across his chest. An involuntary grunt escaped him when something in his chest gave under the assault. He glared at the man in front of him.

Michal's brow twitched and he looked away unable to hold Heero's gaze. Michal scowled at the soldiers instead, who were supposed to be holding him in place. He ducked down, pressing his nose against Heero's bloody cheek, "I should let you keep walking and see what that thing'll do to you."

Heero couldn't speak. He found himself breathless when Duo turned to him then and he stared into eyes so black it looked like Duo's pupils had taken over his whole eye. No light reflected in those black orbs.

"Aa." Heero heard Jirrad say, but he couldn't look away from Duo. For a moment there had been recognition until a discomforting blank and accessing look overtook Duo's face.

Jirrad kept his smile, the thing growing slick when he glanced to him. That look told Heero he had seen that bit of recognition, "They will not be harmed. You have my word as your bonded."

"No!" Heero shouted, somehow wrestling free of Michal's hold, but Michal drove the hilt of his sword into his stomach and side.

Duo watched impassively.

"Amadahy, you've come back to me." Jirrad whispered reverently. He held out his left hand as he approached Duo with a welcoming smile, "You are my One. Together," Duo took his hand and another pulse of energy was released. Jirrad shuddered at the feel of it rolling across his skin, making the hairs on his body stand from his skin, "together we'll remake this world."

Heero saw the being that was Duo walk past him before Michal's sword hilt came at him from the corner of his eye and blacken his world with a brief explosion of light.

Tbc…


	18. Chapter XVIII

Unbeta'd  
Italics ~ thoughts  
Warnings: Angst, MXM goodiness, death, NCS and Mpreg in later chapters, just thought I'd bring up now so all will be prepared when it happens  
Pairings: 1x2/2x1, and the pen dabbles around a bit

Thank you guys for reading ^_^ Input/feedback is much appreciated

Here some art work I commissioned from link_worshiper at LJ http :/ link-worshiper . livejournal .com /253067 . html . No spaces. Thank you again!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the sexies in Gundam Wing AC, I just love to help them live a little.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

XVIII

He was too used to the constant clatter or scurry of things in Maheran's alleyways and markets for this quiet to be natural. It was the same for Acai, although there had been times when he found himself alone, there was always something going on.

_…The mountains_. They were still there. Duo opened his eyes and saw a jumble of things all once. He squeezed them shut just as quickly and gritted his teeth against the sharp pain that stopped him from trying to open them again. Temporarily blind, he should have stumbled, but his steps were measured and easy. It was almost like his feet weren't touching the ground.

The next thing he was aware of was grass. He could feel the sun heated soft blades crinkle beneath his feet. They had come down from the mountains somehow. He had the disorienting feel of not being in control of his body, his movements but there were no hands holding him. Before his anxiety could grow, he was calmed by presence of his bonded nearby and then his attention was brought back to the whispering ground beneath his feet.

_Alive. _

The grass felt good and he felt connected again. He bore down, feet pushing down into the dew kissed cool depths of the growing grass stalks as the rose up over his ankles and stopped at his knees. He twisted the stalks around his toes and wiggled them.

Duo blinked. Seeing them suddenly with his head already tilted down was dizzying, but his feet stayed under him. He stared down at his bare feet resting in the small thatch of it. More grew around him, greener and fuller than the sparse scattered bits gracing the plain they stood upon. He wanted it all to be this way. He felt the pressure build in his chest and with his next exhalation, he watched it spread out. The pressure leaving him as the grass grew tall, trapping the roaming sand beneath its roots and trees sprung up in the distance bringing life back to the sparse, low plain.

_Relena …restored…_ The name drew an image of a girl to his mind and then it was gone. He remembered that she could only make things happen like this but it slipped away again because she wasn't there and that wasn't right. The wind picked up around him and for a delirious moment, he felt, heard, saw everything.

He was everything.

The world doubled and overlapped to show him what was, what had been and what could be… and there were bodies. He felt fevered and nauseated by the sense of malaise over the lack emotion he felt when he looked upon the dead. It was as if it meant nothing and then the echoes of what once was pulled him away from what he had seen. They called to him like they did in the dead village tucked inside the mountain. They called to him from deep within the sand, stretching over a distance he couldn't reach yet.

He couldn't. He wanted to fulfill the yearning that pulled at like any number of hunger pained dreams. He needed more - needed to be more in order to make that happen. For a moment, it all overwhelmed him with such intensity that he gasped out.

"Amadahy," fingers brushed down his clothed back, before they caught his hand and the owner's white head of hair entered his vision on his right. "Do not tax yourself." Then the connection with himself was gone again and he was blanketed in nothingness.

o8 * * *8o

The world rushed back at him, leaving him startled and trying to catch up. His head cleared enough for him to see without the nauseating disorientation from before, but there were people everywhere. They cheered him on bringing carts of more food than he had every seen in his life. They introduced themselves offering their services along with baskets of their finest cloth and wares as their tribute. They asked him to touch their children, saying that his touch blessed them and thanked him for healing their crops.

Then that too was gone in a swirl of white hair, a placid face and soldiers carrying two prone bodies - one with dark hair and the other light hair. Both were covered in grim and he felt the need to go to them but he didn't understand it. He couldn't act even though he knew they meant something to him. He slipped away again with the image of the unconscious dark haired man being taken inside the temple, followed by phantom touches and strange voices talking to him.

The voices gave way to the sound of dripping water and then the feel of it being poured over his body. Duo shook under the hands touching him, drying him and then something was being put on him.

_Clothes? When had I…?_ He remembered his feet being bare but being still clothed. The thought of being naked in front of whoever was washing him didn't bother him as much as he thought it should. He was smiling, he could feel it in the twitching muscles of his cheeks, and he felt oddly safe in this place. But it wasn't him smiling. It was the voice that had been calling him. _She_ was free and smiling through him and he could see the women who washed and dried him wore fine clothes that allowed their left shoulders to be bared.

_Acolytes_. His bewilderment never reached his face.

_…servants…_

The voice was faint but came from everywhere. The acolytes who attended him seemed to be unaware of it. _Who-_

_Servants. Nothing of importance to us. _ Duo shook at the cold disregard in which the voice spoke of them... she spoke to him. He took in the blushing faces of the women before him and he felt little interest in them. He gasped at the sudden sight of them slowly turning into sun dried, burnt looking jerky. He felt separate from them and trapped in cloying warmth that grew colder the more he pushed the image away. But it… she called him back soundlessly and he almost let her pull him back in when one acolyte reached for him and he knew this short haired teasing sprite of a woman.

_Hilde?_ Duo smiled, but it wasn't a smile that could be seen by Hilde or anyone else. She, like the other acolytes, continued to glance at him in guarded wonder. iShe's safe/i. His relief was shorted lived as the voice spoke to him again.

_As are... all the ones who yielded to us. She... may be of further use._

Duo frowned at that, pushing away the cloying feeling completely and found himself floating free. He wondered what the voice meant. _Of use?_

In response, Duo was in his body again but he watched mutely as he caught Hilde's hand. She jerked slightly then bowed saying something he couldn't hear. Then a faint pressure and low heat left his body to enter hers. He saw her gasp, a flush appear high on her cheeks as she looked to him. She tried to shake off the flush threatening take over her face, but held tighter to his hand. Hilde glanced at him in question, then nodded and led him from the bathing chamber with the other acolytes trailing behind them unaware of anything.

_Receptive. She fears us but it's_ for _us. She can be used to aid us._

_What?_

_There are others that could serve the purpose of bearer. Many have come so you may make the first selection of those for our use and those that will serve the purpose of cattle. _

Duo let go of Hilde's hand and the being retaliated by disconnecting his hold on the physical, leaving him floating free again. Images of people dying - the common people of the market, the wino at the front of Celi's tavern who always spared him coin for bread, the farmers, the Gaults - flashed before his eyes. He saw many more deaths including Nartob soldiers, and then Heero... Duo shook his head and the force behind it pushing the being back, revealing a blob like glowing mass. It - she reached for him and he quickly floated further away from her. A female form took shape before him in the strange suspended world he was being held in.

_Ah… it changed to what she truly feels. She distrusts, fears what you've become_. Duo bit his lip, wanting to see for himself but not wanting to go back inside the ball of light he seemed to have been inside of all along - inside her inside him. An arm took shape, fingers unfurling from the round knob like end and beckoned him to come closer. _I'm here because you called. I'm here to meet out the wrongs done. _

_That's not what I felt from you._ Duo frowned in concentration, _You came here to kill..._ his brows disappeared beneath the fall of his bangs, _I didn't call you for that._

She said nothing.

_I wouldn't!_ He knew the doubt in those words. It was a half truth. There had been many times he had wanted to get even. He wanted to see several people dead.

The being made her shape more definitive and oval eyes blinked into being where they should. They were a depthless black that swallowed all light and made their sockets look empty. They regarded him curiously.

_You refuse me?_ Her tone was colored with the light disapproval one would give a small child. Her head tilted, conveying her disappointment and Duo realized she had no mouth. _Me, who has always been with you?_

_You are not.._. Duo sucked in a steadying breath then shook his head, drawn by the near hypnotic sound of her voice. It inspired a sense of belonging and trust. He blinked back the moisture in his eyes, it sounded like his mother. _I don't…_ He gritted his teeth, _need you. I don't agree with what you intend to do._

The black eyes disappeared inside the ball of light that made up her head as she gave him a slow blink. _I see_. Her eyes glanced off to the side, their corners tilting in a remorseful way before the black orbs turned back to him.

_We shall see…you will see that they are but dirt like all things_. The black oblong orbs tilted at the corners again, but upward. Duo was sure that those cryptic words were accompanied by a smile she didn't show.

He didn't like it. _Give me back my body!_

_As you wish..._

Duo heard startled voices as the hard floor rose up to meet him, clipping him in knees. He saw Hilde there, falling with him as she dove to catch him. He shook, the world crashing into him and he opened his eyes to see a ring of curious, cautious faces staring down at him.

"Tha... that hurt..." he muttered. His body felt like it was weighed down and then came the shudders that made his teeth chatter. He was freezing. He tried to burrow into the warm arms with soft malleable parts that held him but his movement was uncoordinated. The soft body he was laying on squeezed him across the shoulders.

"Duo..." Duo heard the relieved whisper and it was like he was being grounded, his body relaxing in the arms around him. He hadn't known his name with the being. He opened an eye he hadn't known was closed and saw a brown haired and brown eyed stranger looking back at him. He squinted, he had seen her before, she had brought someone earlier but it was hard to recall. He turned his head and blurry blue-violets met a familiar blue that weren't his. The blue that belonged to him were darker and deeper. He wanted to ask so many questions. One in particular was centering on the whereabouts of Heero but as soon as the thought came it left him. Things were slipping away from him, words and movement with a lethargy that gave it all a dreamlike quality.

"Wake ...me when it-it's- this... over." He muttered catching a glimpse of Hilde's sad face before awareness slipped away from him completely.

o8 * * *8o

Duo lifted one heavy hand up to rub at one sticky eye crusted with sleep. He felt off in his own body, tired more than he thought he should have been and his sense of time was skewed. He opened his eyes gingerly in the sunlit room and gasped at the white haired man leaning over him. Duo choked, his throat was too dry and scratchy. He swallowed several times between coughs as his body tried to produce enough saliva to ease his parched passage.

Jirrad pressed a wet sponge to his mouth, the cool water soothing his throat. He didn't have enough energy to pull away when Jirrad brushed aside his bangs, the fingers sending an off sort of crawling sensation across his skin. Jirrad smiled down at him, his flat gray eyes burrowing into him every passing moment. He wished he could rub off the almost tangible touch of the man's eyes everywhere the flat gaze landed on him, but all he could managed was a heavy lidded glare.

"Welcome home." Jirrad's thin lip grimace contradicted his airily pleasant greeting. Duo tried to shift in the bed and away from the white haired man, but his body was too sluggish to do anything other than shiver. The world spun and tunneled out of focus while hands lifted him, propping him up against the pillows and headboard.

"My, what a surprise this turned out to be." Duo squinted through the nausea. He could care less about anything that surprised Jirrad. He just wanted the raunchy old bastard to stop touching him. His vision faded out even as Jirrad leaned down into his face and he struggled to stay conscious, "…ow long I waited! Do you know how many times I've called for her? How many times-" his teeth clenched shut on whatever else he was about to say, "I did it all to bring her back to me and you- You sent her away!"

Duo could feel the hands that held him up by his biceps digging into the sensitive skin just before his armpits and pressing him back into the pillows, "…Amadahy! Bring her back, if you want them to remain alive!"

Duo was surprised he could still hear him, but he had no idea what he was talking about. The name felt familiar but held little meaning to his sleep heavy mind. Despite the pain in his arms, he started to slip away again and jerked back to semi-wakefulness with two long, lazy blinks. His eyes focused on Jirrad's shocked face as cold tendrils slithered through his head. He struggled to stay awake and saw Jirrad cradle one of his hands as he stared at it in confusion.

Duo didn't know why he was, it was his own hand. He watched Jirrad jerk back a second time, his right hand had barely reached Duo's sleeve when the force of the jerk had Jirrad taking a cautious step away from him. The white haired man examined the redden skin of his hand with a thoughtful, but irritated lift of his brows.

"Rest."

Duo didn't want to obey Jirrad but his body left him no recourse. He glared, or at least he thought he did, until Jirrad left the room. He slumped side ways until he felt the soft sheets beneath his cheek. His eyes fluttered open when the sound of the door closing didn't reach his ears. Duo glimpsed a ginger haired man standing rigidly in the open doorway. Even though the man gazed at him with sharp pale and dispassionate eyes, he could tell there was something more to the soldier. Duo let his heavy lids close. The queasiness eased its hold on his stomach and allowed sleep to pull him under.

Duo woke up several other times but he hardly remembered what he did or what was said. He did remember what he felt and it was an uneasy feeling attached to everyone he encountered since he awoken with Jirrad drooling over him. This time he didn't feel quite as off and he hoped to see a familiar face like Hilde or Sophil's, but instead he felt uncomfortable. There was someone in the room with him that he hadn't invited.

He glanced around through his lashes, the dinner he hadn't touched was gone. He felt better than the yesterday but he still didn't feel like himself. He was more disoriented and felt overwhelmed by the new role he had been thrown into.

Stranger still was being back in Maheran as the center of attention. Before, it had always been easy for him to fade into the background or hide. Now though, eyes followed him everywhere he went. They let him leave the palace-temple twice but it disturbed him when people fell at his feet and tried to touch him, touched his hair which some how always ended up unbraided. He barely made it back inside the mock safety of the white walls without being groped again.

He remembered Jirrad not being pleased and telling old man to go stuff himself. Though, from then on he was followed by a combination of soldiers, priests or acolytes. The more they watched him, the more he felt trapped. The palace-temple was a decorated prison, one that Relena was accustomed to and probably didn't even see it as such. He asked about Heero, Relena and the others but no one would answer him. Hilde had told him that Sophil found her caked in dirt in the bathing chambers and that she had no memory of how she had gotten there. He didn't doubt her but she cried when he asked if Fraix was with Heero. That had driven her away from him for several days. He didn't want to think of what it meant so he wandered the palace-temple. Someone along the way had relented and told him the others were in palace-temple with him, but he looked everywhere and couldn't find them. He couldn't get to the lower levels because someone in his entourage alerted Jirrad or the guards kept him out.

No one but Hilde or Sophil called him by his name and that was in private. But he was seeing less and less of them. Jirrad limited the reasons Hilde would have to come see him by having the ginger haired captain, Treize, do them or he would come tend to him his self. He wasn't free to move about the temple commons anymore either. The white haired man was really trying to keep him confined to Relena's rooms period, saying that it was because of his increased fatigue and grogginess. That he didn't want Duo to hurt himself.

Duo snorted. It was more like he didn't want him to find out what was going on in Maheran or find away to get into the lower levels. The last time he spoke with Hilde, she had told him of the large number of people migrating to Maheran and he knew something big was going to happen. It was going to happen soon and Duo wanted no part of it.

iGotta try to get to the lower level/i. Duo fidgeted then gritted his teeth, trying to ignore his guest by staring out the window. He could see more people entering the temple commons, overflowing Maheran and its streets. Even the rooftops seemed flooded with people, if not some activity. Duo glanced up and the ginger haired man with clear blue eyes was still observing him.

"Stop watching me!" Duo snapped and the ginger haired man's eyes widen slightly before they relaxed into amused crests that matched his slight smile.

"Like insects to a flame in a darkened room," the ginger haired said with a shake of his head and stepped away from the wall that he had been holding up since he walked in with the acolyte who had brought his lunch. "You can't help looking at and admiring beauty. Word alone of the land you restored on our trek back from the mountains and the restored failing crops on the eastern border has drawn an unprecedented number of people to Maheran."

"It wasn't me who made that happen. You've got the wrong person, I can't do anything." Duo washed up in the washroom and walked back into the room to sit on one of the crest shaped, cushioned long chairs around the table near two large stone glass windows that also served as balcony doors. The sucky part was that Relena's room was filled with windows and he couldn't open or break any of them. The stone glass looked sleek and delicately thin with the frost pattern of snowflakes all around the edges but was just as hard. He'd made one of the chairs lame after several attempts at breaking them.

Sharp blue eyes meet with Duo's across the table and Duo gave the man a narrow eyed glare. "You draw them here without even knowing that you are. Even now," Duo sat rigidly on his chair as the man approached him then stop to lean against a wall by a large unshuttered window with a grooved area filled with cushions on which to sit. Treize gestured toward the window and Duo refrained from following, too weary of taking his eyes off him. He was an arm's length away from him, "you call to them in your weaken state."

"Are you saying you're here because of that?"

The ginger haired man shook his head, glancing at him briefly before his eyes returned to the window.

"They- the wielders are safe, innocuous amongst the other people because we can't see them anymore." Treize smiled, "My guess is that Jirrad has been waiting for Heero to lead him to you."

Duo felt groggy and agitatedly stab at the food on the plate then shoved it in his mouth. He glared at Treize as he chewed, until the sky blue eyes returned to the window. The sun's rays made Treize's hair look like spun sugar laced in ginger.

"Do you- have you seen him?"

Duo looked at the man curiously, wondering who he was asking about because his tone hinted at something deeper than any connection he might have had with Heero. But Treize's gaze remained fixed on some point beyond the grounds.

Duo peered out the window out the corner of his eyes, _The mountains?_ he had forgotten that you could see their cloudy tops over the white wall from Relena's room.

He heard the man take in a shaky breath. Duo glanced at him, his eye were closed and he didn't look away when the calm face turned openly sad and the dark ginger lashes opened over downcast eyes.

The blue eyes shifted and he became their main focus, "Tell me you've heard something of a pregnant wielder?"

Duo shook his head at the desperate look the man was giving him. Duo crushed the bread in his hand when the man stood away from the wall and approached. Treize's gait was too smooth and he tensed as his instincts told him the ginger haired man intended to do something.

"No word of a pregnant man with fair hair?"

_Millie._ Duo's eyes widened, but he was too slow to cover the reaction. Treize grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him.

"Is he-they… Are they ok?"

"Let go of me!" Duo threatened, even though he felt closer to vomiting from all the shaking than taking some course of action. Perhaps being covered in vomit would dissuade the desperate man to not touch him again.

Treize let him go, taking a step back as if he had been burned. "It's true," the ginger haired man glanced down at his hands, "no one can touch you but the acolytes now."

Duo dropped back down on his chair and watched Treize's hands shake before he clasped them behind his back.

"No wonder…" he shook his head. "Please just answer my questions. I won't ask where he is, just if he's safe. I can barely feel him. Let alone if…." Treize half looked away but returned his anguished gaze back to him, "Is the baby …safe?"

Duo glared, tired and wanting the man to go away. "Why should that matter to you? He's going to die anyway."

He raised a brow as what little color Treize's emotions had flushed through his face disappeared at his words. Duo couldn't dredge up much sympathy for his captor.

"I did what I did to protect him. With me…I-" the man stopped, lips pressed in a tight line of self contempt and shame.

Duo smirked darkly, "Right, getting him pregnant with a child, no children, without you by his side so that they'd die horribly was one hell of a way of protecting him?"

Treize looked devastated and Duo slouched in his seat as the blade made of the man's own guilt and suffering filleted him open. Duo sighed, it wasn't like him to be so apathetic and cruel but he felt numb and disconnected. He picked up the cup and looked into its clear contents then sipped it.

Treize took it from him, opened the window and threw it out. Duo looked at the window, dumbfounded and pausing in swallowing what water he had in his mouth.

"Don't swallow it."

Duo frowned at Treize still holding the water in his mouth. Duo looked into anguished blue eyes as Treize gave him the emptied cup back and gestured for him to use it. He spat the water out and grimaced with distaste at how easily he followed Treize's instructions without pause. Treize took the cup away again. The quick motion was slightly nauseating to Duo, who blinked lazily at Treize. Duo arched a brow in question at the sudden appearance of a different cup in front of him on the table. It was empty. Duo looked to Treize in confusion.

"Call to it." Treize held up a hand, silencing his denial at being able to wield, "Don't think about it just call, will it to come."

Duo did, it was easier than in the mountains because he could barely feel anything let alone think. The cup filled and he drank it without hesitation. He was on his third cup when he couldn't call to his element anymore. He also didn't feel like a slow moving slug or disconnected from himself. His head felt clear.

Treize stepped back seemingly satisfied, "It's been laced." He gestured to the half eaten food on the table before Duo. "All of it. Jirrad seems to have increased the dosage."

"Why?" Duo wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and left his shaking thumb pressed to the side of his lower lip. It wasn't anything he could taste but he could feel the difference.

Treize's eyes were once again fixed on some distant point in the mountains before he closed the window. "Perhaps to make you more compliant," Treize's brows furrowed in pain as he squeezed his eyes shut - thumb and pointer finger rubbing his eyes through closed lids. "Perhaps, Amadahy-"

"Th-that's not my name."

Treize's smile looked like it hurt, "but he truly thinks you're her." He turned to lean sideways against the glass, pressing his shoulder then his forehead against its cool surface. "Or at least," sad eyes focused on him from out their corners, "he believes you to be her when you're the One-"

"No. No, I'm not. Relena-"

"You are." Treize faced him, his head still resting against the glass, "You are the One."

Duo's head throbbed in time with his heart, "No." Duo rubbed his forehead, "Where's Relena?"

Treize averted his eyes toward the ceiling. "No one knows. Trowa said she may be dead."

The name sounded vaguely familiar, but the face it brought to mind he knew immediately. He scowled at the table, "And the old man believed that?"

"No." Treize smiled tiredly, "I'll help you leave. Whatever it is that's protecting you is starting to fade."

Duo set turbulent violets on the ginger haired man, "Not without Heero or the others."

Treize gave him a confused look. "What others? There were no others. There's the merchant's son…"

Duo pressed his lips into a thin line.

Treize shook his head, "be glad I have no ulterior motives for doing this."

"You do."

Treize stared at him for a long moment, his despair a perfect distraction from his calculating eyes. He nodded his assent, "Tell him Treize… Tell him that I'm sorry f-"

"Tell him yourself."

The muscles in Treize's jaw bunched slightly as he clenched his teeth, sharp eyes looked off to the side and Duo could tell the man didn't think that would happen.

"I'll come for you, early in the morning like I usually bring your breakfast." he pushed off the window, shutting it much to Duo's dismay. He collected himself and bowed to him, "Be prepared for anything."

"Don't bow to me." Treize stiffened but remained in the humbling position. "Your back's gonna be bitching at ya soon. Just…" Duo sighed, rolling his eyes when Treize didn't rise right away, "can you bring me a soldier's garb?" Duo flushed at the merriment alight in the sky blue eyes that looked up at him.

"It might be best to continue to dress you in female wares, an acolyte shall serve you… an acolyte will leave as well. It's time for me to go."

"He's fine." Duo blurted snootily, freezing Treize at the door. Sighing, Duo picked at the cushioned seat covering and spoke again, his tone gentle, "The children are fine. They will live."

Treize shuddered, bunched shoulders relaxed as he sort of sagged where he stood. He didn't turn back to Duo. He gave him a shaky nod before he left.

Tbc…


	19. Chapter XIX

Unbeta'd

Warnings: Angst, death, violence, NCS (not too descriptive) present, so don't read if the content is too upsetting. Mpreg in the next chapters.

Pairings: 1x2/2x1, and the pen dabbles around a bit

Thank you guys for reading ^_^ Input/feedback is much appreciated

AN: Oh! I hope Jirrad doesn't sound really old because Duo keeps referring to him as 'old man,' which he sort of is, but he's actually only 57ish, built like a healthy 40 -something fellow.

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Disclaimer: I don't own any of the sexies in Gundam Wing AC, I just love to help them live a little.  
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XIX

"Why are you here?"

"To help you of course."

"All I see is you flapping your trap." But it didn't do any good. Jirrad gave him a patient look and began again.

"Like yesterday, it's all about focus. Concentrate-"

_What happened?_ He half heard what the old man was saying. He'd tried, just for the hell of it, to wield - to _call _to it and nothing happened. He didn't know why he bothered, except he remembered being able to do that much in the mountains and a blurry moment with Treize. Even if he could, he felt like something was blocking him and it was tied to her. Setting her free again was the last thing on his mind; especially since there seemed to be a connection between her and the old man. It was too intimate to be something between a father and child. Jirrad was too set on bringing her back.

_I won't_. His teeth clenched on the thought.

He wouldn't have to be here dealing with the pressed old man if Treize had shown up. But from what the acolytes imparted to him, the ginger haired captain hadn't been seen for days.

If it wasn't for that, Duo would've been left to believe Treize had betrayed him when he woke up the morning of their planned escape and found himself in a different room. The room was circular with four high evenly spaced windows that were no bigger than his head and barely as wide as his shoulders. It had three doors, one leading to another room which he couldn't open, the washroom and the main door leading out into the guard filled hallway. There was a long, cushioned stump of a chair along the wall with a low back, like it was meant to be laid upon and not for sitting. It rested between the main door and a set of broad balcony doors where Jirrad had the table moved to, if Duo moved it, every time he came to talk to him about wielding. The only thing he did figure out was that his room was really high up and near the back of the palace-temple.

Since he'd awoken in his new quarters, he'd tried to find ways to pass or trick the guards at the door to let him out but they were immovable. Later, Jirrad would come and try to coax him into eating while he began these little teaching sessions. Jirrad would keep up with the prattle until he started asking for an acolyte, a monk, the cook, a beggar - anyone who wasn't a lackey to the monarch and this white haired commander. Somewhere around Duo's fiftieth request, Jirrad would bow out from their lessons.

An acolyte, Duo didn't know or hadn't seen in Hilde or Sophil's company, would enter after Jirrad departed with a soldier at her side to hear his requests. Sometimes he could charm them to bring something small and easily concealed like unpeeled fruit but that stopped when the soldiers started searching them before they came to him. Then he'd have the respite of Relena's private section of the bathing chambers before he was detained in the room once more. It was a predictable a pattern he had come to depend on, but he should have known better than to trust patterns. Especially since he made a habit of breaking them and others things regularly.

"-it's like breathing really. With time, you'll be able to wield on instinct without the slightest bit of conscious thought. In comparison,-"

It was late in the afternoon, long past the time Jirrad usually stayed but the old man was still sitting at the table with his thumb poised to turn the page of the book he was reading. Duo shunned the food set out for him, "I told you before. I can't do what you ask!" Duo crossed his arms over his chest, trying to quell his rising unease.

"-earning. Try calling it to you as you would someone you know."

"Right." Duo watched the old man sitting across from him, the book now half open with his thumb as a bookmark, a half eaten sandwich and a cup of something herbal in front of him. He never ate anything that was brought for him and stole what he could of Jirrad's leftovers but he was starting to think that it was drugged too.

"It's a part of you. Focus it and feel it build at a central point like in your hand-"

Duo held back his sigh. He had less than a handful of bread left, it helped little without water. He watched Jirrad sip the warm herbal brew in his cup out the corner of his eye. He rubbed at the hunger cramp in his stomach and shifted in his chair to detract from the action. The smell was getting to him, making his mouth water more. He bit his lip and averted his eyes to the balcony doors.

"Why are you keeping me here?" If he was still in Relena's rooms, even with guards trailing him, he would've easily gotten his own food. Maybe even bribed the cook for one of her freshly baked meat rolls she usually prepared around this time. And water. He used to get his water from the faucet in the washroom but Jirrad had the water shut off, leaving the toilet as the only source of water into his room.

He sure as hell wasn't drinking from the toilet.

Rain wasn't an option either because it was a rare occurrence in Maheran. Even if it did, the windows were so high up on the wall that he had to stand on the table to reach it and then they only opened enough for him to stick a hand through. He already tried breaking the balcony doors but it was the same as in Relena's room.

"You are very precious, Amadahy. I'm sure being mauled by our people can be… upsetting at times. Though it is out of their devotion and love for you, the One, that they seek you so." Jirrad regarded him with an adoring and smitten expression.

It made him sick to his stomach. "That doesn't explain why I can't leave this room. None of them tried to harm me and I'm not ill."

Jirrad frowned, looking sincere in his concern, "But you are fatigued and weakened, Amadahy. Always so willful, but you can't fool me. You have no appetite when-"

"Cut the shit. You know damn well why I'm not eating that." Duo glared at him.

Jirrad looked sorrowful, "Ama-"

"That's not my name!" Duo snapped, glaring hotly at Jirrad.

Jirrad smirked, pushing his plate toward Duo, "Then what would you have me call you, my One?"

"Not that either," he pushed the plate back over to him. He'd make the little he had left stretch. "The title belongs to Relena and has nothing to do with me." Duo narrowed his eyes and leaned forward, pushing his untouched plate nearly off the table, "There must be something seriously screwed up in your head for you to be calling me a girl's name. I sure as hell don't have tits! I ain't taking Relena's place or anybody's for you."

"You are Amadahy."

Duo hit the table with the butt of his fist, "I'm not! I know who I am! No matter how many times you call me by that name, I'll never be her!"

Jirrad frowned at him, grabbing Duo's fist with his left hand. "You are…" Jirrad leaned forward, bearing down on it when Duo tried to pull away and stared, unwaveringly, into his eyes. "You are, when you're not you."

Jirrad's intense gaze chilled him. The thought of losing himself to the being inside him stunned him into silence. He blinked. His trapped hand felt like it wasn't his and a stomach-turning, crawling sting spread from his clenched fingers the longer Jirrad held his hand. There was something off and wrong about it.

"Amadahy," Jirrad leaned further across the table, much too close and attempting to get closer.

"Don't touch me!" Duo spat, quickly twisting free of Jirrad's hold and dropping back onto his seat.

Jirrad reached for him, but Duo pulled his hands into his lap. Irritated, he tried to rub away the tingling sting that crept up the back of his hand and into his wrist. The feeling wouldn't go away no matter how much he rubbed at it. Duo stood, pivoting on one foot to face the balcony doors. He had the sudden need for the bathing chamber, "When will the acolytes come to retrieve me?"

"There's no reason to concern yourself with them. The things you require will be brought to you from now on."

Duo stiffened, leveling the white haired man seated across from him with a loathsome glare, "I'm not staying in here. I'll have use of the facilities like everyone else. You can have that Captain of yours, Trey or something, escort me. He seems prestigious enough that it won't look too bad on your behalf. Wouldn't want the masses to find out how you've imprisoned me now? Being the _One_-"

Jirrad laughed, a resentful bellow that he cut short as he sat forward, white hair spilling across his shoulders. "You'd prefer anyone…" He rested his joined hands on the table and smiled ruefully at Duo, "to me, that it? Well, any soldier or acolyte may serve as your guards and servants, my One."

_He__'s done something to them... _Duo moved cautiously away from his side of the table. The bed was directly behind him and he wasn't trying to go there. "This is senseless! What use am I to you?! I told you before that I can't call to it or do anything with it! You should be happy it's gone. It was dangerous. It…" Duo caught an odd glint in Jirrad's eyes and knew it for what it was, "You knew something was wrong... You knew what she wanted!"

The smile slipped from Jirrad's face, "She spoke to you? How…Does she remember? Let me speak with her?"

Duo shook his head, not hearing all Jirrad said. "No wonder… Then you keep coming in here spewing that mess, like I'm really supposed to believe you want to teach _me _anything! It's her you want. She's the reason." Duo gestured irately toward him and his untouched food, "Drugging me and you think I wouldn't have noticed. I'm not stupid. She ain't coming back if I can help it. I'll starve before I touch any of it!"

Jirrad remained where he was, looking thoughtfully at the food on the table. "No matter what you do to Heero, that boy or me, it won't change the fact that I can't wield! There's no point in keeping them."

Jirrad chuckled, flat slate gray eyes rolling in their sockets to settle fully on him. "You're right." Jirrad smiled broadly, "You feel them don't you?"

Duo bit his lip, resisting the urge to touch his chest at the familiar curl there that he had come to accept as Heero.

"No need to answer. But it's in my best interest that they remain where they are and they'll remain relatively unharmed with your cooperation."

Duo cursed under his breath, "What cooperation!? You damn loon! I'm not going to stand here and talk in circles with you."

Jirrad looked him over, his teeth perfect but somehow sharper than they were moments before. He knew that telling the old man that over and over again was dangerous but the urge to get to Heero was stronger now. He had to get to the lower levels of the temple. He _needed_ to be with Heero.

_If I can just get to Heero, together we could_… he stumbled a step at the flush of heat that swept through him. There was something going on within him as he tried and failed at pushing back the urgent need that was starting to impair his judgment. He needed to know why Jirrad was still sitting there. He tramped down on it, rubbing his forehead as the unease he felt earlier returned. He glanced at the old man, whose flat eyes were drinking up his every move or facial expression.

No matter how many tantrums he threw or how many times he'd tried to escape this room, the menacing but accepting old man never laid a hand on him in retaliation. He just sat, stood or stared at him. Whenever he could get close enough, Jirrad made it a point to check or touch the scar on Duo's back and shoulder. It didn't help that all of Relena's clothes, including the tunics that had somehow migrated into the room with him, left his shoulder and most of his shoulder blade exposed. There was no adjusting it, so he made sure to never turn his back on Jirrad.

Duo stopped the next shudder before it could take hold of him under Jirrad's watchful gaze. He glared, fingers itching to braid his hair -another liberty Jirrad took while he slept. The old man had unbraided his hair several times since he'd woken in this room. Because of this, he'd settled for pulling it into a tight pony tail at the back of his neck and slept lightly like he'd done most of his life in the alleys and on the streets.

Then it occurred to him, Jirrad was waiting. Just like all the people in Maheran seemed to be waiting.

_He's old._ Duo attempted to assuage the nervous tickle in the back of his mind and unconsciously squeezed the hand that Jirrad had held captive earlier, _Definitely__ can't let him touch me again._

Duo looked to the balcony doors, while watching Jirrad's unreadable face. Duo didn't bother going over the layout of the room again, there was nowhere to run. The washroom was out of the question, with no way to lock or block the door. Duo returned to his abandoned chair across from the white haired man, sitting on the chair's arm instead and rested his arm across its back. He slouched back enough to lean on that arm. There was nothing left but to face him head-on.

Jirrad arched a brow at him, his mouth quirking up at the corners. "What cooperation, you asked..."

Duo followed Jirrad as he stood and trailed his fingers across the table's surface. Jirrad walked slowly around his side of the table and toward him. It was a stalk, but it held none of the sensual appeal it had when Heero had done it. Duo knew if he could glare any harder, he would set the old man on fire. He wished he could set him aflame for even being in the room with him. He gritted his teeth and did his best to affect a calm façade, his arm relaxed so it wouldn't give him away.

Duo's heart sped up the closer Jirrad came. Everything in him was telling him to run before Jirrad got any closer but he fought off his instincts. He had a plan and he was sticking to it. Jirrad was steps away when Duo bounced to his feet, took the chair in both hands and smashed it across the old man's shoulder and side. Duo kept hitting him until all that left in his hands was the two sides of the chair's back.

Panting, Duo threw down the splintered piece near Jirrad's balled up form and ran for the door. He was going to use the other piece like a club on the guards as he skidded, in his soft-soled shoes, to stop just behind the door and waited.

The door remained closed.

He glanced nervously back at Jirrad who had risen up on his elbows, his white hair covering his face. Duo didn't want to chance waiting any longer, he grabbed the handle and pulled.

Nothing happened.

He used the chair fragment, pushing it through the handle of the door and braced his foot on the wall beside handle then pulled. The door wouldn't budge. He cursed, looking for something else he could use when a shoulder barreled into his back and knocked him into the door.

Winded, Duo felt his tunic yanked up and his bandages ripped from his left side. He jerked underneath the pressure in the center of his back and started at the press of fingers to his wound. Jirrad was tracing curled shapes over and around the rigid, healing flesh. He vaguely remembered Quatre's fingers drawing similar shapes on his skin. Jirrad's breathy chuckle entered his ear.

"Get off me!" Duo drove his elbow back into the surprisingly hard stomach, Jirrad just pressed him harder into the door.

"Are you worried about an 'old man' like me?" He felt fingers dip below the waist band of his pants, tracing skin there then move up to the inside of his hip. He stomped on Jirrad's foot and got shoved into the door for the effort.

"What will you do to make me move?" Jirrad taunted, running his fingers over Duo's hip again and then pressing his thumb against the wound on his left side.

Duo winced from the pressure, afraid Jirrad would reopen the wound. Pain raced up his spine as the pressure increased, he pressed his body closer to door in hopes of easing it some. Jirrad yanked him around and away from the door. Duo ducked away in a spin of his own but Jirrad was there, blocking him then pushing him back until he tripped and fell. Duo flinched, hands outstretched in front of him expecting to hit the hard stone floor but his hands slid across a familiar silky surface and he bounced against the bed instead.

"I waited," hot breath bathed his ear in the next dizzy moment. Duo jerked his head back forcing Jirrad to pull back or risk losing teeth. Jirrad pushed him back down on to his stomach, his hand pushing his face into the bedding. "But you kept pushing her away, didn't you?! You won't let her come back to me."

Duo struggled under Jirrad's hold but managed to turn his face to the side, "Get off of me! This will get you no where!" Duo growled through gritted teeth, while he tried to pull Jirrad's hand off his head and push him off at the same time.

"You made her leave and now you won't give her back to me." Jirrad didn't acknowledge anything he said. His voice dropped to a whisper as he continued to trace Duo's wound. "The mark is still light. Lighter than Millardo's had been but Treize ruined that. Missed chance…" Jirrad chuckled lowly and Duo watched him nod to himself. The laugh had a crazed and desolate edge to it that made Duo regret not taking the rest of the chair and knocking Jirrad across the head with it.

"You delusional fuck! Get off!"

"It says you're not ready but I won't lose another opportunity like you. I'll make you leave and she'll have to come back to me..." Jirrad muttered as he rubbed bloody spittle from the corner of his mouth and eyed him in a discomforting way.

Duo found himself flipped over, too disoriented by Jirrad's lingering touch on his head to move like he wanted. He sluggishly crawled backward across the large bed while Jirrad stared off.

Jirrad's head dropped forward and he stared at him, a smile twitching at the corner of his mouth, "I'll make you ready."

Duo's eyes widened briefly before settling into a glare he directed at Jirrad, who was kneeling on the bed before him, "Like hell, you old geezer!"

Duo kicked at him, but Jirrad caught his foot with a smirk. "Trying to avoid touching me? You felt that too, hmm?" He twisted it, putting pressure on the joint as he used it to yank Duo down the bed and back to him.

"Your cooperation…" Duo kicked him in the face, but Jirrad only tightened his grip on Duo's captive ankle and caught the other one. He pressed it down into the bed and quickly pinned it with his bent leg to block Duo's fist. He choked on a laugh and spat off the side of the bed, "Your cooperation would have spared you this for one thing. The food would have left you docile but I see that even then you would've held her back with a will as strong as hers. Less time wasted though, I can still utilize you even if you can't wield or be obedient." Jirrad smiled widely, showing Duo he hadn't been imagining the sharp teeth he'd glimpsed before. All of them were covered with a reddish film and four were longer than the rest. "You will serve as my bearer and give to us what should have been."

"Ne-!" Duo's protest was cut short as Jirrad leaned over him. Duo fell back, rucking up and pulling at the bedding trying to get away despite the pain in his ankle and the weight on his leg.

Jirrad viciously applied more pressure to the joint and Duo gritted his teeth against the pain. Duo pulled at the hand on his ankle in an attempt to make him ease the pressure. Jirrad grabbed his hair and used it to pull his head back down to the bed and to keep him from head butting him. Duo worked his other leg free and pushed Jirrad back enough to knee him in his side.

Jirrad jerked back. Duo whipped him across the face with his knuckles then punched him several more times. Until he felt Jirrad's nose crunch under his fist and he heard Jirrad's teeth snap shut from the force of the blows. He followed it up with another knee jab to the chest and finally a kick to the stomach that Jirrad was too slow to block, sending the white haired man reeling backwards to land awkwardly on his side. Duo scrambled away, catching gray slivers glancing up to him while he labored for breath with his arm bracing his stomach. Duo kicked him again for good measure, leaving Jirrad on his side coughing with bloody spit dribbling from his mouth.

"I'll kill the old bastard if you guys don't come in here and take him out!" Duo shouted and shuffled across the tangled sheets on his knees, tripping over them as he went. Duo jerked, suddenly, pain blooming from the center of his back and spreading across his shoulder blades. Too stunned to even try to catch himself, he saw the floor rushing up at him then it stopped in a flash of white hot pain from his head that rivaled the pain in his back. Jirrad yanked him back onto the bed by his hair, the band snapped under the stress, popping him in the back of his neck. A small pain drowned out by the swift cuff he received to the side of his face.

"Kill me? Really?!" It came over a wheezed chuckle and Duo fought with the old man who struggled to pull him under him. Duo gave back nearly as many of blows Jirrad gave him, but the man's years took none of his strength away. Jirrad struck him hard across the ear, stunning him and jerked him around until he was pinned under the bulk of his body. Returning pain in his scalp joined the deafening ring in his ear as Jirrad twisted the hair in his hand and pulled it taut at the top of his head.

Duo could hear his heart racing in his ears. He tried to bring a hand up but Jirrad caught it and pinned it under one of his knees. He tried to work it free but Jirrad only bared down on it more until he stopped moving it.

Jirrad forced his head to the side and traced the rapidly thumping vein in Duo's neck. Duo gritted his teeth, pushing him back with his free hand and watched him through the corner of his eye. Jirrad turned him to face him and Duo spat in his face.

Jirrad smiled unaffected, bending down to wipe his face clean in Duo's hair. Jirrad said nothing, pinching Duo's wind pipe with his left hand and added pressure until Duo stopped struggling.

Duo scowled, refusing to untwist his hand from Jirrad's rumpled tunic and dug his fingernails into the old man's shoulder when Jirrad tried to get closer.

"Perfect." Jirrad laughed out. "Defiant, even now." He eased up on the pressure on Duo's throat, and then trailed his hand down his neck and along his collar bone.

Duo frowned as the tense muscles of his neck began to relax when they shouldn't. Duo's eyes went wide as he tried to speak and Jirrad gripped the bottom of his chin. Duo jerked once, his whole body a strung bow, before his body didn't respond to him anymore. Jirrad released his hair with a gentleness he'd shown little of in his maneuvering of him onto the bed. Duo stared up at him, helpless and furious.

Jirrad smiled at him, his lip split, his nose crooked and bloody as a red smattering of bruises spread and darken across his face. But Jirrad kept smiling as if it were nothing. Duo glared, his breathing labored as the pain from his own wounds and bruises made themselves known to him. His breathing hitched when the pain was combined with a burning sensation from all the places Jirrad had touched him. Duo shook, the burning sensation was greatest where Jirrad still held his chin. He broke out in a sweat, his skin crawl and felt like it had split open as stomach churned threateningly. He loathed the feel of it, Jirrad's touch and the deaden emptiness that followed it.

Jirrad kissed him then and Duo flinched or tried to with his body twitching in none of the right places. He felt his stomach roil at the tongue in his mouth and his jaw quivered as he willed it to snap shut so he could bite off the invader.

Jirrad sat back and stared down at Duo's pale face, unmarred except for the bruises on his chin and the reddening mark cover the side of his temple to his ear. "I think I'll keep you," Jirrad remarked then kissed him again.

There was blood in his mouth but there was something off about it, like Jirrad's eyes and hands. He snapped forward, his body quaking as he unintentionally head butted Jirrad, knocking the old man onto his back. Duo's mouth opened in a silent scream, air bursting from his throat as each muscle twitched and tighten in response to everything he'd wanted to do but couldn't before. He could see Jirrad lying stunned on his back and staring up at the ceiling. Duo tried to move but his body wasn't responding to him. He closed his eyes, shaking in place as his brows furrowed from the strain.

_Move! Move damn it!_ Blood seeped from his lip and out the corner of his mouth, he could hardly feel the pain. He could move the fingers of one hand and fist the other while the tremors in his body began to subside enough for him to move.

But the time it took for him to regain some control was enough time for Jirrad come back to himself. Duo squawked in frustration and lost control of his body again. He fell back onto the bed and felt pressure where Jirrad pressed down on the center of his chest.

_H__is left hand!_ Duo realized, jerkily trying to dislodge the hand as the man swayed above him.

"You basta-bastard!" Duo cursed him, his voice leaving him again with the burning spread of heat from Jirrad's hand. He swung at him with his fist and Jirrad caught it easily, forcing it down and above his head. Duo lost control of it half way to the pillow as tears from the exertion, frustration and more escaped down the sides of his face. He made choked sound when his body acquiesced to Jirrad's will.

_Suppressed! Why suppress me now when he could've done it any time before? The drugs, the watching, the taunting…!_ He screamed and raged in his head until he couldn't think complete thoughts anymore. Duo's mind became sluggish and nearly as unresponsive as the rest of his body from the fog encroaching on his mind. Soon he'd be robbed of all thought, but it stopped and Jirrad lifted his hand from his chest. Duo blinked and Jirrad smiled down at him.

"I like the look in your eyes." He offered in explanation and Duo wanted to bite the thumb off the scared hand that sent numb needle pricks across his lower lip. He wished that he'd done more damage to that hand the first time Jirrad had used it on him.

Duo glared his hatred and his body jerked slightly in uncoordinated twitches. Beads of sweat rolled down the sides of his head.

Jirrad leaned down and licked the side of his temple. "Heero got to you first then, but not in every way it seems." Jirrad whispered while he leaned over him and pressed his knee between Duo's legs. Jirrad's right hand carded through his bangs but wasn't having any effect on him, "Good thing, I'm part of the family."

Duo could hear the amusement in his voice and tried to figure out what he meant because Jirrad was not related to Heero even though they were the same kind of shape shifter. He squinted, his brow and cheek twitching in as much of a flinch he could manage while Jirrad's teeth worried the top of his ear. He felt the heat from Jirrad's mouth before the man's voice filled his ear, "We'll have powerful heirs, Amadahy."

Duo gave him a confused look, but Jirrad said nothing more, arranging his arms and legs to his liking. Duo felt a wave of nausea at the feel of the man's hands across his stomach coupled with the pain of Jirrad's touch. He thought for a moment he would pass out from the roil of emotions trapped inside his own head. He let himself drift as the loose tunic he wore was ripped open and the trousers removed.

All he could hear now was his own heart and its rapid beat pounding through his head. One leg hooked at the knee over Jirrad's shoulder and felt thumbs rubbed a strange but sensitive place between his balls and anus. The tingle of pleasure was soon replaced with sharp spikes of pain the more Jirrad pressed on the same area. He knew there was nothing but skin, but the old man kept at it. Then all thought was chased from his mind by shearing pain. Things shook around them and Duo cracked open a blurry eye to see a bloody blade land near his elbow and felt the slickness of the warm blade when his elbowed moved over it.

_I moved it_! Even though it was a small movement, he managed to do it again and suddenly he felt tired. _My... elbow_! He fought off the weariness that tried to pull him under and shook, attempting to move it again.

"There's no water here!" Jirrad goaded breathlessly with a laugh, intent on the body before him. Duo blocked the feel Jirrad's hands stroking down his sides, and bit his lip as the man's thumbs first rubbed then dug into his hips as he lifted him. "This time it will work, Amadahy." The man reveled in the comfort of his own voice.

Duo gritted his teeth, determined to get his own form of comfort from cutting Jirrad's throat with that blade. Duo managed a small, but shaky movement that put him on top of it. A scream tore free of his throat as pain, the likes he'd never felt before, ripped him open. Jirrad moved over him and Duo fisted the sheets until he could scream no more.

The blade was forgotten. He went limp soon after, his body burning and darkness hovering on the ends of everything. He wanted the darkness to swallow him, but Jirrad's left hand kept bringing him back. It made him ride on the pain until Jirrad stopped touching him with it. Duo's eyes rolled upward, leaving only the whites visible under trembling lids. He could no longer hear Jirrad's grunts or feel his breath on his skin as darkness swept away his sight and stole his consciousness.

Tbc…


	20. Chapter XX

Unbeta'd

Warnings: Angst, death, dark, violence, hints of NCS (not descriptive) and Mpreg in this chapter, then some dub-con in a later chapter. Some definite triggers for rape and trauma of miscarriage so use caution in reading…

Pairings: 1x2/2x1, and the pen dabbles around a bit

AN: Thank you guys for reading, the favs and reviewing! *hugs ya all* there is a foreseeable end ^_^ we're about 6 chapters away.

Doing some tweaking.

o-o-o8~0~8o-o-o

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the sexies in Gundam Wing AC, I just love to help them live a little.

o-o-o8~0~8o-o-o

XX

At first, all he could recall were blurs of feeling and sound. The sound being mostly labored breathing and the other, a sickening feel of wrongness. He wanted to block it out and he did unintentionally as shock dimmed his awareness. He felt himself being lifted then moved. His head rolled away from the shoulder he laid against and lolled to the side where the bed came into blurry focus. They were moving away from it, but the bedding was dark and sodden as if someone had been murdered there. He saw the blade among the stained and rumpled sheets and memory - feeling made it all come back again. He forced it back and let himself fade into the numbness while his eyes remained open, seeing nothing.

Duo blinked and saw a boy, a young healer at his side. He watched the boy fumble with things, his face pale and stricken. There was an angry red mark across one cheek and his lip was split at the corner where the bruise was the reddest. Duo smiled in a detached sort of way because he knew the sound of the boy getting hit was what had roused him. He felt something reach from deep inside him pull at the boy's very being. The boy drooped where he sat and struggled to hold himself up using the edge of Duo's bed. Duo frowned, the boy's fear, confusion and pain made his chest tight. He didn't know why or how he could feel him, but it was nauseating.

On his next wobbly breath, Duo squeezed his eyes shut and wished it would go away. He shuddered, his chest tight but lighter as the feeling dissipated and he was left alone with his own emotions. Duo blinked at the realization that the boy was only a healer. He couldn't understand the disappointment that followed that discovery when to him it meant the boy could leave eventually and wouldn't have to suffer too much or fear being hunted for what he was. He didn't want to bring anyone into a world like that. Another shudder shook him and the tightness in his chest became a heavy, piercing weight.

_He wanted… I..._ he couldn't think past the feeling of helplessness and pain that followed that thought. He hadn't known he could. He forced the burning, sour taste in his mouth back down with a difficult swallow. If he could, he had wanted it to be with Heero. He shook as his body flushed with heat at the thought of his bonded. He yearned for him, but he couldn't get to him. He couldn't draw anything to help him reach him from the boy. It was hard for him to understand, but he thought it had something to do with being around other wielders. The healer could channel energy but couldn't wield. There was no one else close enough to draw anything from. Duo went limp, jerking in place and suddenly aware of the pain wrecked confines of his own body.

The boy shook himself and went to work wrapping a warm, sharp smelling poultice across the knuckles of one of his hands. The pain faded instantly, leaving a numb tingling feeling that his mind readily grabbed onto.

"I'll be using this herb for the superficial wounds. I'll mostly focus on healing the... the internal damage, but I can't help heal you properly if you take my strength from me." The boy had said quietly, his eyes too bright as he quickly wiped at his cheek. "Please let me at least do this, your Grace." Pale green eyes focused on him as the boy tried to smile for him, but ended up too shaky and looked like it caused him more pain to do so. "What is your name? I'm Arnau."

He couldn't remember anyone else asking him his name, who wasn't the white haired man or trying to talk to _him_ and not the being inside him. It almost felt like he didn't have one. It was like he wasn't himself and this wasn't something happening to him. He could almost envision himself huddled somewhere in some dirty corner of a Maheran alley having a nightmare. He withdrew, the boy's words melting into an indistinct sounds as he continued to talk to him.

Duo forced his drooping eyes open a little when he felt something move into the room. Something was coming closer to them with its fragmented presence and it was intent on him. Duo felt his heart pound harder until he could hear it in his ears. A blurred shape lingered just beyond the scope of his vision. He sucked in a breath when the looming figure became Jirrad.

Arnau was looking at him in concern as he tried to calm him down with soothing gestures and promises he couldn't hear. Duo tried to speak, but Jirrad had done something to his throat so he couldn't talk. He brought a shaky hand up to his neck and tried to speak again. He hissed in a raspy airy way that startled the boy.

Arnau frowned at his expression, unaware of Jirrad coming up behind him. Following the direction of Duo's eyes, Arnau finally turned to look over his shoulder and saw the tight faced Jirrad.

"Is he?" the boy stiffened and shook his head. "If he's awake, you've healed him well enough. Get out."

Duo shook at the sound of Jirrad's voice, his flat and empty eyes never leaving him. Arnau was saying something and stood in front of him, blocking Jirrad from him. Duo scooted backward on the thin cot like bed. He made an involuntary pained sound as his stomach cramped when he turned on his side and put his legs over the side of the bed in preparation to stand. The pain grew deep inside him and he fell off the bed.

He panted, wincing at the pain in his head and trembled as he forced himself onto his back. Duo's eyes snapped up and he saw the healer stumble before he was knocked aside. Arnau flew into the wall, the impact was hard enough that the healer left a bloody smear as he crumpled and slid down its surface. Then Jirrad was on him. Duo fought with the white haired man until that hand, the one he wished he could cut off, brought the familiar feeling of empty wrongness as it sapped away his will and made him compliant. Everything blurred out of focus and Jirrad carried him away.

Through the graying white of unconsciousness came glimpses of what was happening around him – to him. He was being made to eat or drink, tended to, made to yield his body. Once Jirrad's painful touches stop, he went back to the welcoming embrace of nothingness.

In his next full moment of awareness, Duo opened his eyes to darkness and a lingering ache low in his stomach. He blinked several times, before the low light from the lichen finally reached his eyes and let him see his own hand fisting the sheet below the pillow. There was something wrong. He shifted, but it did nothing alleviate the way his tunic was sticking to his body. There was also a hot, slick moistness under one side of his face.

Duo shifted again and the acrid smell from the pillow he lay on filled his nose. He shakily dragged his head across it and away from the vomit. A thick string of saliva weightily hung from the corner of his mouth before it popped across his cheek.

Pain flared hotly in his stomach when another cramp, stronger than the one that had woken him, seized his body. Duo curled over his middle as it cut and tore at him from the inside. He couldn't scream, just make the voiceless breathy bursts that would have been. He suddenly felt warmth spread between his legs.

_I'm... dying. _he thought, sweat running across his skin. _It's... dying. _he was too scared to move, too sick to do anything, but lay there in agony through the night until consciousness left him.

Duo opened his eyes and found the young healer at his side again. The boy was pale as he moved his legs and the soft touch of a warm wet cloth moved over his skin. Duo closed his eyes and tried to control his shuddering, but it just made him more tired. Through his lashes, he watched the boy diligently work on him. He saw the pain in the boy's face, his split lip and purpling bruises standing out more with his sickly pallor.

This time he felt the boy wasn't free to choose anything for himself anymore. Everything blurred as the healer treated him until Jirrad made him yield to him again. He wanted to forget the feel of the old man on him. He wanted to forget the old man's use of him most of all, but it followed him even when he closed his eyes.

There was something off about Jirrad; an empty, vacant feeling that clung to him with his every touch. It made Duo's skin crawl and brought him back from oblivion because no matter what, he always felt it when Jirrad touched him. The wrongness of his touch was revolting and made his body scream at him, but he couldn't break free of his hold. There had been more food and baths, but he was never aware enough to see who was handling him. All he knew was that Jirrad had stopped using him and he just drifted from there.

Duo woke again to his body seizing on him, cramps he had no control over, twisting deep down in his gut.

_Not… again…_

The pain only eased if he bore down on it. But this time it was different and his body felt different. Nervous tension was thick in the room. The edges of his vision were dark, but it cleared enough for him to see when Senjit came in. The bald man's eyes were beady and hidden mostly by the deep folds of his eyelids, but Duo could still see the shock and pity they held. They rolled away from him to someone out of his line of sight.

"Jirrad, this is why 'the One is unavailable' for weeks now? Because you-!" the bald man sputtered to a stop then glared hard at Jirrad, "Did you even try to stabilize him?"

Duo shuddered, not having noticed the pacing white haired man down by the foot of the bed until his name was said. He didn't want Jirrad to touch him anymore.

_Nonono... _came the string of words, repeating in his head, and then the boy healer was there, running a cool cloth over his sweaty brow.

"Shh, it's okay. It won't be much longer."

Duo panted, squinting up at him. Arnau's eyes were reassuring and he did well in hiding his true feelings, but Duo could still see the edges of it in his tension worn face.

"That's it. Breathe."

Jirrad paused in his pacing to stare at him and Duo started to breathe erratically, "He's stable enough. He can't be suppressed any more for this."

The healer put a moist sponge to his mouth, "Focus on what your body is saying, and going with it."

The boy looked so much older than he remembered. Duo forced his eyes to stay on the boy when Jirrad started pacing again. But he could still see him, blurred form popping in and out of his peripheral vision. Arnau shuffled down the bed to his covered, raised legs and was now doing something between them. He tried to not see Jirrad watching him anxiously when a cramp snuck up on him, left him lightheaded and nauseated. It hurt so much. He wanted it out. He wanted it over.

"Jirrad, you are a fool!"

"I didn't ask you to be here!" Jirrad snapped, glaring at the bulbous nosed bald man. "I won't stand for your insults."

"You fool." Senjit shook his head, "He's the last one and you- what if he dies?"

"Then we find the girl and-"

"The Priests will never let you do to her what you've done to this boy!"

In that moment, he wanted them all to die, Jirrad most of all. Things slipped away from him. The room faded in and out of a graying shroud.

"…not pushing… the head…"

"Get… him too! ...I'll cut it out if I have…"

Everything shook around him as a sharp, poignant odor invaded his nose. It burned and the pain came back. Duo shook his head, trying to get away from the cloth pressed over his nose and mouth.

"… shh, shh..." entered his ear. He gasped in a breath once the cloth was removed. Duo felt himself being rocked and the arm around him. "You have to stay with us. Stay with me." The healer's voice shook, his calm composure gone.

Duo didn't want to stay. He wanted to tell the healer to let him sleep, but all he could do was groan in response to his pain overwhelmed body. Duo choked on the air when the cloth was removed.

"You see!" Duo saw Senjit's lips curl in a grimace, his tone filled with mock excitement. "She came back, didn't she?"

Jirrad made a guttural sound in response that sent a shudder down Duo's spine.

"It's what you wanted and she wanted you de-"

"Hold your tongue! Arnau!" Jirrad winced, turning stiffly to glare at the healer next to him. Arnau brushed his nose against Duo's sweaty temple before disentangling himself from him.

Jirrad's flat eyes stayed on him and Duo fisted the sheets as the pain and cramping began anew. Arnau's head was lowered when he went to Jirrad and examined the red spear sticking out the back of his shoulder. Duo's breath hitched at a sudden stab of pain from fluttering movement in his stomach. Before Duo could think any more on it, the feeling was lost as the pain increased and the spear collapsed into a bloody streak down Jirrad's arm.

Arnau shifted his medicine bag from around his back, delving through it to get the supplies he needed. He cleaned Jirrad's wound quickly and covered it with a healing poultice. Jirrad grabbed Arnau before he could step away and ripped the bandage from his shoulder then pressed Arnau's hand back to wound on his shoulder.

"Heal it."

Dull, pale green eyes rounded in a bruised face, glancing back at him then Jirrad. "You-but-"

"Heal it!" Jirrad snapped and the healer flinched, pulling his hand free and using the other, a faint glow lined his hand before he removed it and quickly returned to the foot of his bed.

Senjit shook his head, face pinched as he glanced at him on the bed then faced Jirrad, "At such a price, do you still want her back, JJ, my old friend?"

"I'll free you of that wagging tongue!" Jirrad growled, his hand gripping the pommel cinched to his belt.

Another cramp seized him and he heard someone scream. Arnau jumped on the bed and Duo bore down on the pain and the pressure. He gasped in a breath, panting when he realized the person who had been screaming was him. The cramping wouldn't stop and he screamed again, drowning out the weaker cry that joined his before he knew no more.

Duo came to in a muted world of pain. He was exhausted and sweaty. His heart labored in his chest. His stomach felt odd, the muscles there fluttered like prickling needles and from his hips on down he was numb.

_No, no more. _He was so tired. He was shaking so bad that he could see the bed moving. He knew what was coming next. It came almost every time he woke- Jirrad would come soon and make him yield to him. He didn't want to wake up to pain anymore. He didn't want to wake up to being used, to fear, to a life where he was always watched and controlled. And no one knew or wanted him, only _her_. He hated Jirrad. He hated those hands. He hated the way they touched him. He hated feeling helpless under them. He hated what they made him feel and every time he thought of death and dying, but it never happened.

Not for him.

It happened to everyone he ever cared for, but never him.

He wanted it all to go away.

The latch on the door clicked as it always did when Jirrad entered and he gave up hoping for anything else.

tbc


	21. Chapter XXI

Unbeta'd

Warnings: Angst, some dubious consent in a later chapter.

Pairings: 1x2/2x1, and the pen dabbles around a bit

AN: Thank you guys for reading, favs and reviewing!

o-o-o8~0~8o-o-o

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the sexies in Gundam Wing AC, I just love to help them live a little.

o-o-o8~0~8o-o-o

XXI

Heero shot up into a sitting position, trying and failing at shaking off the heavy fog from his mind to determine what had woken him. He lay back in the warm spot his body had made on the cold, sparse hay covered stone floor trying to slow the world's spinning. Everything throbbed like his heart beat for awhile before he could focus on anything except the floor.

He swallowed with some difficulty, his mouth dry and pasty with some sort of herbal tang clinging to the sides of his tongue. The combined thirst and pasty taste warred with the nausea and the dizziness. He squeezed his eyes shut until the nausea waned and his vision didn't tunnel. Heero chanced opening an eye, blinking several times until the blurry shapes in front of him came into focus, they were thick black bars.

Even though he sat up slowly, his vision threatened to start spinning on him again. _How … how long has it been?_ He wondered while he surveyed the area. _Stone and more stone, the temple then_. He'd been down in the cells deep beneath the temple's foyer before as a part of his training.

_As if locking me down here for four days without food or light could be really called training_, Heero snorted, popping the bones in his neck, hoping it would alleviate some of the stiffness there.

Although he hadn't expected to be awake to see anything ever again. There had been bits of drugged glimpses of Jirrad then Senjit trying to get information out of him. Then an instance where Khushrenada had come to him, but with all the drugs in his system he wouldn't have been very receptive to anything he had to say.

The last clear moment he remembered at length was Jirrad reaching out to take Duo's hand. But that wasn't right. Duo wouldn't go to Jirrad willing, it was the being that Duo had become that had gone to Jirrad. There was no other word to describe him. He had become something else teeming with power. Power he had borrowed from all of them but capable of so much more. It occurred to him then, that Duo had unknowingly done the same thing to help Zechs and everyone, including him, thought Relena had done it.

Heero gritted his teeth. The very thing that he had been trying to prevent had happened - Duo had returned to him and Jirrad stepped in taking him away. Heero cursed himself, tired of hurting, of losing. A flash of memory greeted him when he closed his eyes of his sisters being killed before him and his father – body headless in their yard and the eyeless head resting on their doorstep. His jaw ached so he unclenched his teeth with a shaky exhaled breath. It seemed he couldn't protect or prevent harm to the people he cared for and loved, past or present.

_Trowa_. One of the people he truly thought he could trust and cared for, turned out to be what he had feared of Zechs in the beginning. Heero held one side of his head trying to still the room and rubbed away dry blood from the dull ache running from his right ear into his hair. He growled his frustration, punching the stone floor of his cell. He was tired of lamenting and his mind wandered back to think on how much time had passed.

Unconsciously, he reached for the black stone on his left shoulder guard and found it gone as were all his weapons even the small blade he had strapped to the inside of his thigh. The black stone was made of the same stone-metal mix as the bars of his cell. The stones were conditioned by Zechs to respond to a captain or a high ranking soldier who bore a small, thorny circlet tattoo on the back of either shoulder. The tattoo was inked in the paste from ground fragments of the conditioned stone and before he had been imprisoned, Heero remembered having it still. Each stone was unique to its possessor, so it wouldn't work for anyone but him. He checked his cell once more and cursed. He had only the clothes on his back and been down there long enough for someone to bother with stripping him of his weapons.

_Too long._ Heero forced himself to stand and ended up collapsing to one knee. The abrupt fall made everything faded out then came back to him in a nauseating wave. Heero gripped the wall, trying to keep still and not upset aggravate his wounds further. He'd forgotten about the deep gash in his side. The stone floor rumbled beneath him and he pressed his lips tightly together to muffle his scream. The yawning rumble sounded from somewhere deep and far beneath the stone. It almost sounded like someone crying or calling out. Heero held his breath at the faint pull in his chest. It was weaker than he had ever remembered it being.

_Duo_... Heero rose and stumbled to the bars of his cell. He yanked at them mindless of his injuries, and then let them go stiffly. He winced and held his left arm away from his ribs, although it did little to lessen the hot pain that lanced through his side. He held onto the bars as he panted, collecting himself.

He realized his strength was half of what it should be. He'd been only capable of shifting the bars in their slots, causing sandy grit to shower down from the ceiling and bend them some, but that was all. The next rumble made more sandy grit rain down on him. He looked up when it stopped and found cracks all across the ceiling.

Heero froze at the hissing sound that came from behind him. He found more cracks along the floor while he tried to find the source of the hiss. He squinted in the low light. The sound came from a crack in the stone floor where he had been laying. He saw water erupt, from it sending chips of stone flying across the floor. Heero held tight to the bars when another rumble shook the floor and more dark water shot up through the cracks. He soon found himself ankle deep in it.

This didn't bode well for him or anyone else being kept in these cells. It took him longer than he would have liked to shift his vision to the sight with the incessant throb at his temple. Soon he was looking past his cell walls but not up through the ceiling, all he saw there was stone. The barrier that prevented him from looking through it was much like the one that protected the undercity.

Heero pressed his head against the cool bars to distract him from the strain and the building headache as he glanced over another empty cell. He rubbed his head against the smooth bar then stopped, spotting another presence sprawled across the floor a few cells down. His nostrils flared and twitched, picking up a mixture of smells, but blood was the freshest among them - his own and the body in the other cell. He smelled of the sun, herbs and sweat.

"Quatre?" Heero frowned, what he could see of Quatre's presence was dull. It looked ordinary like people who didn't possess a wielder's gift to wield, but his nose wouldn't deceive him.

"Quatre?" He got a groan in answer then a watery cough. He watched the dull energy that outlined Quatre's shape get up on its knees and brighten slightly with a shake of his head.

"H-he... 'Ro?" Quatre's voice was rough and crackly. He sounded as bad as Heero felt.

"Aa." Heero flinched, returning to his normal vision. He kicked the bars of his cell and displaced the water in a wide arch. Heero put his arm through the bent bars then tried his shoulder. He frowned, finding the space between the bars still too narrow. Heero made an aborted move for the black stone again. He growled lowly, fisting his hand and dropping it back to his right side.

Heero's back became rigid at the heavy creak of a door opening and the sloshing sound of feet treading water. Heero frowned. It was coming from somewhere near Quatre and not the stairs. His brows disappeared beneath his matted bangs at the head of dingy blonde hair that came around the corner. Quatre slid along the wall then used the bars of Heero's cell to support himself before leaning on them.

"How did you -" Quatre's battered and bloodied face stopped his question as the petite wielder lifted his head to smile at him. Heero could see why Quatre had difficulty talking, there were several finger shaped bruises on the side of one cheek and a large circular bruise blooming out from the corner of his mouth. Quatre blinked unfocused aquamarine eyes at him in confusion.

"You-?" Quatre made a face, "You o-opened my cell? But you're over... H-How did... Oh, I'm not. I'm 'ere." Quatre shrugged the shoulder he wasn't leaning on and winced, letting his arm go limp against his side and pulling it closer to his body.

Heero frowned at him curiously, noticing the dark bruising on Quatre's limp arm through his ripped tunic sleeve. There was an odd lump visible at the top of his shoulder, "Quatre?"

Quatre turned his head looking around the hall. Then he turned back to Heero letting his head rest back on the bars. He slouched against them while squinting blue green eyes tried to focus on his face. Heero sighed and Quatre smiled as if he were saying 'Oh there you are.'

Heero rubbed his aching head, "They drugged you." then started, with the realization that Quatre was really _looking _at him. Quatre giggled, glossy orbs trained on him, "Right. Drugged. You can see?"

Quatre nodded, another giggle slipping free, "Th-they didn't understand. S-said I'm getting sp-special treatment 'cuz the One didn't w-want me ...to be protected. I w-wonder why Relena would say that."

"It's not Relena." _It wasn't Duo either_. He remembered how close Quatre and his bonded had become, if Duo had more control he doubted the blonde wielder would've been harmed as much as he had been. It was probably best Duo hadn't said anything. Back in the dwelling, he could barely smell Duo, his scent fading in the energized air.

"Oh," wide aquamarine orbs, one half shut from the dark swelling around it, stared up at him from his slouched position in wonder. He had this beat-up, helpless puppy look that made Heero snort to stop a smirk from curving his lips.

_Quatre, cute?_ He frowned at himself. He could feel a slight tremble along his skin. Heero pressed his fingers against the throb in his temple and winced, the wound was hot and his forehead slick with sweat. He was becoming delirious.

"Oh, I got sm-smacked for not sp-speaking and then ... then they asked me lots and lots of questions like I w-was a ch-child." Quatre tried to clear his throat to lessen the scratchy sound of his voice, but the purplish marks on his throat suggested the effort would be wasted. Quatre didn't let that stop him. The more he talked, the more his stutter eased, "C-called me tunnel rat trash and got mad when they got lots of answers. They broke bones in my-my arm before… he came but they had already done something to my-my shoulder that m-made it pop! I gave them m-more answers like the sun sets in the west and rises in the east and desert rabbits have big ears and loooong whiskers. The sand is alive you know! I told them that! It can swallow you up without a guide, but they haven't been back… since." Quatre nodded to himself, "G-Guess they didn't find what they were looking for. They didn't even bring that medicine stuff they made us eat." Quatre nodded again, and then blinked up at him as if he had asked a question. "Yes! My eyes!" He smiled brightly as if he had just realized something and his eyes watered from the obvious pain it was causing him to do so, "It must have happen when Relena-"

"Shh, Quatre." Heero frowning still as he tried to find focus. Now wasn't the time for Quatre to talk about what had happened in the mountain dwelling, especially not in a place where voices carried.

"And Duo said I should put my hands-"

"Quatre. I need you to-"

"Then there was so much light! Heero did you see! And then Tam-Tam …?" Quatre frowned adorably with his half swollen bottom lip poking out. "No Trowa-"

"Quatre, shut up!" Quatre did and giggled as he started splashing in the calf-high water.

Heero sighed deeply and braced his head against the cold bars close to Quatre's head. It eased the heat and throbbing at his temple a little. "Can you find my shoulder guard?"

Quatre gave him a quizzical look, "They'd leave it down here?"

"Aa. Jirrad would, if only to taunt me."

Quatre made a face, lips pursed in a pout before he nodded his head like it weighed too much. Quatre took a cautious step forward in the rising water and then another without the support of the bars. Quatre managed to take a few more before his legs buckled under him. He fell to his knees in a splash, then backward and under the water.

"Quatre!" Heero saw the water splash as Quatre struggled to sit back up but it seemed that the few steps he had taken sapped what little strength he had.

"Quatre!" Heero shouted and dropped to his knees in the rising water. He reached through the bars and toward where he had seen Quatre disappear beneath the water. His fingers grasped at nothing. Heero's chest and collar bone complained as he pressed hard against the immovable stone-metal melded bars. He tried looking for a hint of Quatre's golden locks but the water was too dark and turbulent, with little white capped waves rolling over through the area.

He could see nothing.

Heero slipped into the sight again and saw Quatre lying just out of reach in the water. His eyes slipped back just as quickly, a stabbing pain in his head forcing one eye to close and him to brace the side of his head again. Heero saw bubbles erupt at the water's surface and reached out, shoving his arm through the bars trying to reach Quatre. He strained and stretched until he felt hair slip through his fingers. Heero winced as he forced his shoulder further and his fingers tangled in Quatre's hair. He pulled the blonde wielder close enough for him to pull him the rest of the way by a shoulder sleeve. He brought Quatre's head out of the water by his hair but the petite wielder was unresponsive.

"Quatre! Breathe! Breathe, damn it!" Heero pulled Quatre to the bars and shook him. Then he pried his mouth open to remove as much water as he could and turned him to face him through the bars. He pressed down on his chest with one hand, glad when it rose on its own. Quatre's eyes shifted behind closed lids, more water spilling out of his mouth and nose but his chest stopped rising.

Heero cursed, pushing Quatre's face up against the bars and trying to force air into his lungs through his mouth. He pushed down on his chest again, and then forced more air down into the petite blonde's chest. A rumble later, Heero was rewarded with a spray of water in his face. Heero shifted Quatre on his arm and awkwardly rubbed Quatre's back as the petite wielder coughed up water and choked down the air. Heero absently rubbed his face across his shoulder and did the only thing he could at that moment, while Quatre tried to stop coughing, and that was to keep him from slipping back under.

"Quatre." Heero called to the battered blonde, who stilled against his straining, partially numb arm and the bars. Quatre snuggled up against the bars, frowning at the hard bars, and then looked up blearily at Heero's pinched face. "Can you move?"

Quatre nodded stiffly, his face pale and a visible tremor making him bounce lightly against the bars.

_Must be wearing off,_ Heero thought at Quatre stiff movements and helped Quatre sit up straighter. He was tempted to pop Quatre's shoulder back in place, but he wasn't sure he could do it through the bars without inflicting more damage to his broken arm.

"We need to get you and Duo out of here. When did Trowa suppress you?"

Quatre gave him a confused look, and then he looked off as if he was seeing beyond the stone walls. "Against the light... he came to me. Trowa-"

Heero stopped him with a finger to his lips. He didn't want to tell him there had been no light. There was so much pain evident in Quatre's voice just from saying Trowa's name. He knew he had to keep Quatre focused if they were going to find a way out. It was strange. Tamien's real name, Trowa, came to them easier than saying Tamien ever did. He couldn't figure out when Trowa had marked Quatre or when they had accepted each other, but he knew that was the only way Quatre could've been suppressed so completely without inhibiting his ability to move. It had been done by mutual agreement. It also explained why he remembered Jirrad giving Quatre to Trowa without a second thought. Heero had little doubt that if Jirrad had seen Quatre before he had been suppressed, Jirrad would have never _given _him away.

Quatre being left in an open cell though, added to his suspicions about Trowa but he wouldn't say anything about it, not until he was sure. "I understand. Can you look for my shoulder guard?"

"...key?" Heero shook his head. There was no point in having Quatre try to do anything more than find his shoulder guard in his weaken state and the blonde wielder won't have to worry about soldiers because they were always posted outside the doors to this level. Once he was out of his cell, he would deal with them. Heero helped Quatre to his knees and with a pat to his back, Quatre shuffled through the water while holding onto the bars and the wall along the way.

Heero nodded in approval, Quatre was cognizant enough to move without making too much noise. He shook himself free of what water he could and saw the sources of the dull light, the lichen, all brighten where they touched the water. _Glow fuzz_, he thought fondly to himself for a moment and was glad the things didn't release spores into the water.

He tore a long strip from the bottom of his under shirt, wrung it of what water he could and packed it against the gash in his side. Heero felt a sharp pain shoot up into his arm when bones that shouldn't move did. Biting his lip, he pulled his jerkin down. It fit well enough to keep the makeshift bandage in place. He could only hope being bruised and loose was the worst of it. The bar door to his cell creaked open as the stone latches withdrew from the floor and ceiling. He paused with a hand on a bar of his cell, realizing Quatre couldn't have opened.

Given the state Quatre was in, it would've been near impossible for him to lure one guard away without attracting the attention of his partner, let alone figure out how the stone worked that quickly.

Heero slipped out of his cell quietly, easing through the water and found no sign of Quatre. He started toward the stairs, picking up a broken stone-metal bar along the way and kept to the shadows. He found Quatre's limp form being picked up from the stairs by a hooded Nartob soldier. He hadn't considered how complicated things would be taking a nearly incapacitated Quatre with him to rescue Duo, but if he left him behind it would be impossible to return for him. He raised the bar above his head, at the same time pained aquamarines struggled to stay open as half moon slits, "Trowa?"

Heero aimed the pointed end of the bar at the middle of Trowa's back and pressed, "Let him go."

Trowa shook his head, remaining still but squeezing Quatre closer to him. "I did what I could for his shoulder, but he needs a healer. I came for him and... you."

"And you expect me to believe that?" Heero pressed the rigid tip of the bar harder into the center of Trowa's back in response to the groan he heard from Quatre.

"Believe what you want. I'm taking him with me." Trowa turned, elbowing the bar aside as it dragged across the back of his jerkin and met Heero's icy stare. Trowa's hair was pulled back, showing both verdant eyes and Heero found himself lowering the metal bar.

"You're free of the conditioning."

Trowa nodded, took the shoulder guard from Quatre's semi-slack hands and tossed it to Heero. Trowa gently shifted the petite wielder in his arms but Quatre started awake, slivers of blue green appeared between pale lashes. Heero watched Trowa lean down and whisper in his ear before Quatre went limp again. The green eyed man started up the stairs without a backwards glance.

"It happened after it chose Fraix."

Heero winced, griping the bar in his hands tighter.

"I don't know what it healed in me but the fire rose so high-"

"It pulsed." Heero muttered through gritted teeth, the memory playing out clearly in his head. Trowa frowned at him, when he continued. "The fire pulsed, like a heart's beat."

Trowa nodded slowly, "It-"

"Duo," Heero corrected in a growl, tossing the metal bar aside with enough force he lodged it into the stone floor.

Trowa grimaced, "Yes, Duo." He spared Heero a glance out the corner of his eye. Heero put the shoulder guard, running his fingers over the rounded, black surface and waited for the unlatching clunk from the door while he tighten it. Trowa shouldered the door open, his voice dropping to a barely audible whisper, "He allowed me to break away from the conditioning in a way I couldn't have before then. I think that's why we were never allowed to be healed by the One ... Relena or any of the stronger healers she taught. Only the lesser healers were allowed to tend to us. It gave me just enough time to reach Quatre when I remembered the message I sent back. It was too late for anything else."

Heero followed, ignoring how the guard agitated his bruised shoulder, "Guards?"

Trowa shook his head, "There was no one on this level. Most of them have gone to the disturbance in the garden."

"Strange."

Trowa nodded, "If not for his obsession with the… Duo, it would've been another week before I could rearrange the guard placement without much resistance but I still had to be subtle or Michal would've noticed. Then Jirrad doubled the guard around Duo and has been very distracted as of late. Several times he appeared agitated and haggard when I caught him off guard. I thought that you had said something to him..."

Heero shook his head. Even half out of his mind from the drugs, he was trained by the bastard too well to reveal anything worth using. He gritted his teeth, he couldn't care anymore. The man was doing everything in his power to take all that he had and he wouldn't let him keep Duo for his affection. He was going to kill Jirrad.

"He's become lax in his duties for the past few days. But still if not for the disturbance, it would have been awhile before I could safely move you both."

Again, he itched to know how long he had been separated from Duo, how Jirrad had had... Heero pressed back on the need to ask. Instead, he tried to decipher some inkling from his memories. His memories were shaky, altered because of the drugs and his perception of time was too skewed to be of any use to him. He could remember little from the interrogations. Though, there had been a blurry moment where Treize had come to his cell. Heero frowned. He remembered movement and traces of Duo's scent, but nothing else. "Khushrenada?"

Trowa shook his head, "The last I saw of him, he was being escorted away with Jirrad and Michal close behind him."

"Duo is coming with us."

"I never doubted that."

"You'll be the first I kill if you betray us."

Trowa snorted, a small smirk curled one corner of his mouth and he stepped over two unconscious guards on his way up the second set of stairs. His expression turned grim. "Jirrad has Duo confined to a room adjoined to his and the floor is heavily guarded."

Heero cracked his knuckles, took the weapons off the downed soldiers and followed Trowa out into the open hall. "I'll make them clear the way." Heero promised, his eyes gleaming with deadly intent.

tbc


	22. Chapter XXII

Unbeta'd

Warnings: Angst, death, violence, references to past NCS and dubious consent in the next chapter.

Pairings: 1x2/2x1, and the pen dabbles around a bit

AN: I'm later than usual, but here it is. This chapter will more than likely be confusing because it's from Duo's POV and he thinks he's dreaming in the first half and the only one aware that he isn't is Retwa and everyone else.

*hugs you all* I'm promise to finish this. Thank you guys for reading this confusing story of mine, favs and reviewing!

o-o-o8~0~8o-o-o

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the sexies in Gundam Wing AC, I just love to help them live a little.

o-o-o8~0~8o-o-o

XXII

The door creaked open and a loud thump followed. Enough time had passed for the sun to shift and cloak the room in the shadows of late afternoon, but Duo barely noticed time's passing. He stared unblinkingly at the small windows, that suddenly had curtains and his nose itched under the sensory assault of the soapy, clean smell that seemed to rise from every corner of the room.

Duo didn't move. He wasn't sure if he was even breathing, but he knew who was coming and what would happen next. He lay on his side in the bed and stared at the window waiting. His pupils were needle points in a sea of stormy, glassy blue violet and hidden under heavy lids.

"Duo?"

At first, he didn't recognize the whispered-worry laden call as anything other than a prelude to more pain and violation. When the call came again with a firmer tone, he knew it wasn't Jirrad who had entered the room - his prison. His body trembled when he tried to relax. Some of his muscles twitched with the threat of cramping from how tense he had been.

A steady shudder overtook him and he glimpsed gloved hands just before they pulled the covers off of him. Duo jerkily shifted his bare legs, trying to curl them toward his chest. He stopped halfway when once muted pain flared to life in his stomach. His vision wavered, but his eyes stayed open, affording him a blurry view of the short tunic he wore where it stopped mid-thigh. His eyes lazily traced the line of his legs, expecting to see the bruises the old man had left behind, but it seemed the healer's salves were potent enough to have nearly erased them all.

Duo tried to distract himself from the queasiness and the memories of Jirrad working just as hard to replace the bruises with new ones. He forced himself to focus on his legs. All he could make out was faint discolorations where they had been. Then he could feel where Jirrad's touch lingered on his skin, between his thighs. Duo shuddered, clenching them together.

He found that if he stared long enough, he could see the bruises darkening and spreading across his skin. The touches then became as tangible as fingers then became hands that grabbed and squeezed him. Duo tried to will it away, but then the gloved hands were touching him and made it harder for him to separate reality from memory.

_The healer?_ He hoped, because the hands seemed noninvasive though Arnau never wore gloves when he treated him. He tried to turn his head to see his handler's face, but his head was too heavy to move. One of the hands hesitated on his thigh, hesitated more than it should have if his handler was the healer, before attempting to pull his legs apart.

Blue tinged gray enveloped his sight then receded to the edges as bare fingers brushed back the damp bangs sticking to his forehead. The rough pads traced over his brow and Duo inhaled sharply as a warm pressure bloomed in his chest. He couldn't see the hand on his thigh any more. The gloveless one tilted his head up on the pillow. He felt something tug on his hair and found his handler had pulled it into a messy ponytail that now draped over his shoulder.

"Duo, can you hear me?"

A head ringed in chaotic, dark chocolate hair with a purplish bruise on one side of his temple came into focus. Duo squinted at the bruise. It opened to a furious red mark and there was matted hair where the blood had dried. His vision flickered in and out of darkness with the flutter of his lashes as his eyes found focus on pale, dusty rose colored lips. They moved forming words he couldn't hear and his eyes rolled up the dirt smeared face to meet familiar deep blue eyes. Duo's breath caught in chest, he never wanted to look away from them again. This was where he belonged, where he escaped when Jirrad came to him.

_Heero._ He felt his throat work then release a strangled sound as he tried to speak. The blue eyes flicked downward then back to him as the warm rough pads caressing his cheek soon stroked the side of his throat. Suddenly, he could breathe easier. There had been a pressure he hadn't noticed before on his throat and with one touch, it was gone. Duo wanted to speak, but he was too lightheaded with relief and too drained to.

He knew he had to have been dreaming, because that was the only time he could sometimes find Heero. He was half floating in a familiar cold place in which the pain faded, the room and bed were simply there and the tactile sensation of Jirrad's hands went away.

'_Ro... th-then… Jirrad__'s hands..._ He had never confused the two before. He closed his eyes, but couldn't squeeze them shut like he wanted or submerge himself in the dream instead hovering on the edges. Duo wanted Heero with him, looking at him with those depthless eyes, touching him... Not Jirrad. Duo tried to shrink back, but only managed to jerk in place.

_H-he's not... Th-this is…? _

He forced the words away. There was no need for them because they weren't helping him any. Duo knew Heero wouldn't know that Jirrad had done something to his throat to keep him silent. He accepted it as a last attempt by his subconscious mind at escaping - he was letting his dream overlap with reality and replacing Jirrad's face with Heero's.

Duo was pulled upright by his shoulders, and then was caught by them when he started to fall back to bed. He dismissed the oddness of it and focused on how much easier it was becoming for him to divorce himself from everything. The bed dipped, a knee then leg pressed against his bent ones as an arm went around his back to better support him.

"Can you move?" The voice sounded hopeful but gravelly, as if something had upset him and it was making it hard for him to speak. When his head was tilted up, Duo saw whatever hope dream Heero held on his face crumple. He couldn't be sure if he was remembering Heero's face correctly. This dream Heero's face was naked in its expressiveness, while the Heero he remembered was more reserved. It frightened him and he accepted it to be the dream it had to be.

He tried but couldn't get dream Heero's expression to change. Duo looked away from dream Heero's face, what he saw there hurt and he didn't want pain in his dreams. He wondered if he had forgotten what Heero looked like, just like he couldn't remember his own name.

Duo felt the side of his head rest against the handler's warm skin. He realized it was his chin when the handler's jaw moved and the faint sound of him gritting his teeth reached his ear.

"Blood?"

Duo felt a sudden curl of interest in this speaker. It was an innate need he hadn't experienced since he had met the boy healer. The speaker was called a cat or something similar, but names along with the memory their faces were slipping from his mind, while wordless thoughts different from his own grew louder. Stronger.

But he understood what they were telling him - this one was one he could use. This one had what he needed.

A soldier hushed the blonde wielder and blocked him from view as he leaned in and pressed their heads together, "It's not mine. Drugged?" The question was directed at dream Heero, who shifted them on the bed.

He saw his handler's hands drift from his arm to his legs again, conflicted but wanting to check something. "Yes. His eyes... the pupils are uneven and aren't responding to the light. There are dark, grayish circles under them. He was trying to say something. I need-"

"Let's move." The soldier snapped. Green eyes looked away from them dismissively, while his face gave away nothing. "Get him up."

"He's barely consc-!" His handler's growl was cut short by the rumble that shook the room and nearly sent them both tumbling backwards onto the bed.

"No time."

Duo watched, detachedly, as the soldier left the blonde wielder leaning in the door well and rummaged through something at the foot of the bed. He blinked slowly at the clothes that were thrown down near his legs.

'_Ro?_ Duo frowned at the familiar expression on the soldier's face at the foot of the bed. The soldier had a blank expression he was used to seeing on Heero's face. This time around, the dream was strange – giving him an audience at the door along two Heeros.

_Dream... _

The whisper filled his ears. He agreed wanting to do nothing more than rollover and fall into a deeper sleep. From the moment of his capture, he had been caught up in what seemed like a series of dreams. He was then thrust into one extreme after the other with brief reprieves that never allowed him time to wake up. He saw the bruised hand of his handler gripping his bare thigh with enough pressure it looked like it should hurt, but it didn't. Duo struggled to lift his hand to both knock the handler's hand away and satiate his curiosity on how much he could feel in this dream.

He watched his hand shake, his head shifting shakily against the rough and scratchy stubble on his handler's chin as the memory of flat eyes and cruel hands made him cringe inside. The dream didn't change, the hand didn't move and he wasn't suddenly under Jirrad's control again, being manipulated like a toy. He wanted to hold on to a simple dream like that, and not the nightmare he had been living. It was enough to make him want to never wake up again.

_Useful_... he frowned again at the whisper, unsure of what it meant, but his dreams rarely made sense. He warily agreed. _Vessel..._ the whisper curled through his fuzzy mind, louder this time, while a falling sensation took away his grasp on things. The whisper consumed him and it grew stronger.

"Heero!" The soldier hissed, practically carrying the blonde wielder, who stumbled at his side, back out the room.

His handler turned to see the other two leave and missed Duo's lips curling in a vacant smile before they relaxed again. Duo heard his handler growl next to him, and then he hurriedly dressed him, jerking him to his feet. Duo's legs wobbled beneath him, supporting him for a short time before they went limp at the reawakening pain in his nether regions. The handler cursed and caught him before he could hit the floor. He helped him stand until he was stable enough to hold himself upright.

"We have to go now, Duo." His handler spoke, his tone struggling to remain firm if not regretful. Duo shook when a hand cupped the side of his face. His handler held his head up, trying to coax a response from him. He pressed into the warm hand. It contrasted the coldness around him as his vision narrowed. He felt dry lips press against his sweaty forehead then his arm was pulled over the handler's shoulder and an arm went around his waist. "You have to help me help you. I can't carry you and I need one of my sword hands free."

That was fine with him, he felt like seeing something die. Duo gave his handler a jerky nod that made the handler squeeze him to his side with a wince of his own. They met up with the soldier supporting the blonde wielder in much the same way the handler was supporting him, but Duo could see that the petite blonde was better able to move and wield a weapon. They stepped over the guards at the door and rushed down a small side stairwell with minimal resistance.

The vacant smile was back on Duo's face. He cocked a brow at the wielder ahead of them. The blonde wielder had made a startled sound. The soldier supporting the wielder ignored it, too intent on the path he was leading them on. The blonde wielder glanced back at Duo several times but that smile never left Duo's lips.

The blonde wielder intrigued him.

Duo's lips quirked at the corners and he gave the blonde wielder a knowing smirk in payment of his shocked and conflicted glances. The wielder was perceptive and aware of what he was doing even in his weaken state. The soldiers they came in contact with were dealt with swiftly, left unconscious and sometimes wounded. Or so they believed.

Another soldier went down with a wet smack to a side wall and Duo glanced from the soldier to the blonde wielder. He held the blonde's gaze from under his heavy lids as he and his handler passed him. Duo leeched what strength the soldier had to offer and the smile stretched across Duo's face as the blonde's brow furrowed. Then he pushed the felled soldier one step further and sought the flicker that dwelled in all things. He felt it in all the other soldiers they left behind without really being aware of what he was doing. He took hold of it and dispersed it, leaving shriveled husks behind. At the same moment, the blonde wielder gasped, sweat running from his temples and he made a distressed sound as he nearly fell. The soldier supporting him shushed him and pulled him closer to his side, but the blonde wielder held no more doubts about what he was - what had been called. He drank in all the blonde was feeling and shuddered.

They ran out into the foyer and crashed into robed backs that similarly rushed about. They pushed and shoved until they made it out to the open colonnade then into the palace-temple's gardens. His handler put away his sword and nodded, signaling the other soldier to do the same. They pulled the hoods of their cloaks over their heads, did the same with their charges, and moved with the flow. There were many others there holding wounded and astonished people in similar positions, lending them the safety of anonymity.

"We welcome your return, my Lady."

Duo's handler growled at the concert of whispers and murmured prayers that followed, then glared at several people around them. His head throbbed as some of the whispers reached his ears.

"There are two! We have been blessed with two!"

"Our city will grow more prosperous!"

_Selfishness. Greed, so many of them are driven by greed._

"Ay and you've brought guests or were you unable to resist the One's call just like everyone else?"

Duo jerked back into himself, into the physical and the pain of being on his feet so soon after… his mind blanked and the fear grew. He shuddered, pressing against his handler's side at the sound of Jirrad's voice. His thoughts were jumbled and broke on themselves before words could form in his head. He wanted to believe the dream that Heero had come for him, but he couldn't remember moving or being clothed and the sound of Jirrad's voice was getting louder. His handler was bringing him to the old man and the pressure in his chest was making it harder for him to breathe.

Unconsciously, he tried to make himself invisible and pressed into the body supporting him, pushing back on the arm when it tried to pull him forward. His handler growled and the arm squeezed him hard enough that it made him gasp then shudder from the pain in his abdomen.

_He's -! He__'s-! __I don't want to! I don't want to anymore!_ Duo cringed inside himself, hands over his ears as he curled into as tight a ball as he could. He didn't want to be where that man was. He shook under the caress of chilled fingers across his face.

_Just a dream... a dream like all the rest._ The voice promised him as it surrounded him, the world flickering in and out of his sight. _Y__ou never have to go back._

The fingers became more solid, squirming, and then crawling beneath his skin and into his body. They numbed everywhere they touched and memories of Jirrad invading him, flashed before his eyes. Then he felt the guilt and the shame from when Jirrad made him feel things other than pain.

_No! No more!_

_Shhh, he won't. There is only us. No one will touch you again _

He was so cold. He wanted the cold, it made feeling go away. It made it easier to accept the nothingness and to forget.

_Yesss,_ _forget. You won't have to feel him ever again._

_I won't?_

_I will make it all go away. _

_The pain and t-the..._

_All of it. Call to me. Say that I can and I will._

Duo gasped when for a moment he was falling then a hand gripped his shoulder catching him, pulling him into warmth different from this place of nothingness. The arms of the body he was pressed against held him close and the place he floated in became watery as it began to fade. The arms were the same as the feeling in his chest, they were both familiar.

_But… that__'s not…_ Confused, afraid and shivering within himself, Duo called out to the only name he could think of. The person he called to, dreamed of through it all. _Heero? _But he hadn't spoken out loud; the void around him had stopped it from even reaching his lips. He pushed to regain control and was lifting his head to look at his handler when pain laced through him followed by a sharp retort.

_No._ It boomed inside his skull.

_No… t_he voice grew softer, more docile._iHe's not here. Gone... Dead, that one killed him._

Panic suffused him. _He-he said…he ... No. He said he wouldn__'t._

_Only to get us to agree. We… you feel … none of them any longer._

It was true. Duo could only feel the cold of the void around him. The ginger haired man had failed to keep his promise. Jirrad didn't need hostages any more; he had gotten what he wanted. He would keep him prisoner.

_Gone?_

She, for he realized that the voice was feminine, didn't respond right away. He floated in his grief and started at the feel of pressure all around him again. It was familiar like in so many dreams he had had growing up.

_I'm always with you._

He felt safe. Since all this craziness had started, he had only felt safe here and with-

_Call to me… _Her voice boomed in head, disrupting his thoughts while she showed him the pain he endured for weeks. She made him relive it all in a span of a breath that left Duo dry heaving and cringing when her voice boomed again,_ Call to me and I'll never leave you._

_Re... twa? _Nothing hurt anymore. He was the void. He was nothing. He exhaled and he was everything. _Retwa._

_Yes…_

Duo embraced her presence and lost himself. He convulsed and shivered as the blue from his dreams engulfed him and he drifted away.

She breathed, feasting on sensation and smell. Then there was pain, a deep ache and loss her shared body whispered to her of over and over. She silenced it. He was there still but he couldn't think, she called on his rage, fear and pain. She sifted through his memories and left him blank.

_We will give back to this world what it has given us._

He agreed.

He found comfort in her, in the nothingness and they were one. They felt rage at the sound of Jirrad's voice.

They were him and he would seek Jirrad out as he had done so many others. Duo knew he was close and he remembered everything in a detached sense. No amount of healing would erase it, and Jirrad deserved to have it back.

All of it.

He would share his pain, the fear, the anguish, and the disgust. Everything with everyone.

He had liked the feel of that flicker fading as they snuffed out the remaining soldiers they'd left behind.

He wanted to experience it again. Sudden warmth and feeling reminded him of the body that aided them. Their Vessel... his vessel had appeal and made him want to be part of his being.

He decided they would indulge in him before gathering what they needed.

tbc


	23. Chapter XXIII

Unbeta'd

Warnings: Angst, death, violence, references to past NCS and dubious consent

Pairings: 1x2/2x1, and the pen dabbles around a bit

*hugs you all* Thank you guys for reading this confusing story of mine, favs and reviewing!

o-o-o8~0~8o-o-o

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the sexies in Gundam Wing AC, I just love to help them live a little.

o-o-o8~0~8o-o-o

XXIII

Heero was about to signal Trowa to punch through, but an arrogant voice stopped him cold.

"We welcome your return, my Lady."

A low rumbling growl threatened to break free of his throat, but he gritted his teeth and contained it. Heero scowled at the monk that dropped to his knees in front of them. The open space above the monk's bowed head allowed Heero to see Jirrad's challenger even though the sneered title told him who it was before he saw the ponytail of long hair, "Relena."

Heero's eyes jumped from Relena to Hilde, dressed like any other acolyte, but Hilde's shadowed eyes told a different story. She looked tired, yet firm in her position where she stood opposite a crowd of others as near to Relena as she could get. The other acolytes stood at the forefront of the crowd, some looking to Relena in worry, a few joining Hilde's side while others watched the people at Relena's back with curiosity. Hilde only looked to Relena, even though she remained with the other acolytes at her side. The look that passed between the two women told Heero, Hilde only remained where she was because of some unspoken agreement. The people at Relena's back were all wearing garbs for traveling, beige with a swirl of brown speckles down their sleeves and sides. It was a symbol that had adorned the walls of the undercity. Quatre's people had come for them.

"Ay and you've brought guests or were you unable to resist the One's call just like everyone else?" Heero saw Jirrad smugly arch a brow when they were jostled by a robed monk and he nearly lost his grip on Duo. He held Duo's shivering body closer to his and pulled the hood back over his head, missing the opening of vacant blue violets and the wordless movement of Duo's lips. The garden was filled with acolytes, soldiers, and priests. The townspeople poured out from the palace-temple and came from where the great white, stone wall had been, taking cautious steps over the soggy, puckered ground. Some went to where the stone slabs that still stood, following and watching as lines appeared along what once made up the solid, white walls of the palace-temple. The separated pieces would shake in place before dropping into the lush green ground of the garden. No one noticed the three battered and cloaked men being led from the foyer and out into the colonnade by a tall green eyed soldier. Heero growled when they were jostled again. He shoved the pressing bodies back harshly, toppling several people like stacked wooden planks.

"Heero!"

Heero ignored Quatre's warning call and only glimpsed Trowa take hold of the blonde in his failed attempt to get to them. Heero saw the green eyed man pull him back to his side and hastily pull his hood back over his head – Quatre's distinct, bright blonde hair no less a marker among so many earth tones. Luckily for them, the crowd was confused enough that his use of force mattered little. No one noticed the flash of blonde hair and the people who'd fallen were already being helped back to their feet. Duo grabbed onto him, diverting his attention.

"Wha-?" Heero's next step had his foot nearly swallowed by the ground. He hopped back a step, shaking off muddy water from his boot. The imprint his boot left on the grass covered ground, quickly filled with dark water. Then the compressed dirt and grass rose back up, making the muddy sinkhole look like solid ground again.

He glared at the broken earth beneath their feet and followed the hidden grassy sink hole to the large holes in the earth where the wall had been. Many were filling-in to look like the normal ground around them. Another stone slab dropped into the ground, making the earth rumble and the murmur of the crowd grow in alarm. Heero steadied himself and Duo while cerulean blues roved over the open grotto where the Gua dwelled. His teeth clenched in understanding, what had been rocking them in the cells and the cause of the flooding below the foyer was the force from the descending/dropping slabs of stone.

A monk ran forward and bowed down before Relena. Heero recognized Thelca and Wu Fei on either side of her. Ethan brought up the rear and gone were the emblems of the monarch. The once seemingly skittish young man was the youngest in his group, held a more confident stance and was more sure footed then Heero had ever seen him. Many of the people from the Acai were armed with weapons, some had shifted to a similar breed of desert cat he had seen Wu Fei change to and a few others were wielders. All were as young as he and Relena. Heero stiffened at the sight of them and was inspired by the strength of their resolve - they had come to their aid despite the overwhelming odds against them.

Relena's hair was in a high pony tail at the back of her head. She wore a long sweeping tunic with splits that came up the sides to stop at her waist and bore the same symbol as all the others. "I've come to continue what my people have been trying to do for years. We've come back to our home. We will no longer hide. We want to be free."

Heero glanced around, half expecting that he's have to glare at another monk or acolyte for thoughtlessly pushing them. Suddenly, Heero winced as Duo straightened away from him and sending a sharp stab of pain across his chest from the abrupt move.

"Duo?" Heero whispered, moving to stand in front of the unresponsive long haired man who still had his hooded head hanging forward. Heero held him by both his arms, his hands gently encircling them just above the elbow. "What is it?" Heero ducked down slightly, trying to see Duo's face, but his bangs and the hood hid his face from view.

Inky, unfocused blue-violet eyes rolled up to meet Heero's through the fall of his bangs. They locked with his for a moment before they skittered off, staring at something beyond Heero's shoulder. Heero's nose twitched as his concern grew at Duo's continued silence and fading scent. He shook his head, wincing as he dismissed it. It wasn't uncommon that even he would be overwhelmed by the mixed smells of so many people in such close proximity in one place at one time. Heero cupped Duo's chilled cheek, earning a stilted blink and a delayed flinch at his touch.

Heero pressed his lips into a thin line at the growing pain in his chest and pulled Duo into a tight hug even though Duo shook at the contact. He rubbed Duo's back swallowing back the anger boiling inside him and tried to concentrate. He knew Duo was in pain, even injured, but he hadn't had a chance to check him the way he wanted. He needed to get him out of Maheran and to a healer first then he would come for Jirrad. Heero's hand settled on Duo's shoulder as he turned to look for Trowa among the assembling people and he missed Duo's eyes closing, lips twitching upward in an emotionless smile.

Heero discovered Trowa and Quatre were further away from them and still making considerable progress while he was standing still. He reached for his shoulder guard when cool fingers buried themselves into the hair at the back of his head, pushing his hood back.

"Duo, what-?" Heero shivered beneath the caressing fingers cutting off his whispered query. He caught Duo's wrist, trying to pull his hand down and fix his hood, but Duo tightened his grip.

Heero gasped as heat suffused the back of his head and surged down into his body. He swallowed with difficulty, mouth suddenly too dry and too hot. He looked at Duo in surprise at the feel of Duo's lips pressing against his own. Heero half winced at the pressure to his bruised mouth, his eyes widening as the pain dissolved into something more. He pushed back on Duo's shoulder, but his strength was gone. Duo's hood slipped back off his head and the feel of those lips moving against his own had him responding, his lips parting in a quiet gasp. He felt Duo smile and then his tongue slide inside. Heero's eyes grew heavier until they closed. He forced them back open, staring into Duo's eyes where he found a barely discernible dark ring of color, nearly eclipsed by the inky blackness of his pupil.

They were like a void, his eyes, drawing you in and letting you fell without any hope of catching yourself or finding purchase. Heero felt his knees give, and then he was falling, matching the feeling invoked by Duo's eyes. The abrupt motion almost pulled them apart, but Duo pulled back first with a parting suck to his tongue. Heero strained to keep hold of Duo's wrist as he stared up at him through lowered lashes, lips parted while he tried to remember how to breathe and shake the haze of pleasure Duo was inducing in him. Heero frowned, the furrow in his brows deepening as he forced himself to concentrate until he could pull his eyes away from Duo's and their unnerving inky depths. He panted; sweat beading across his forehead when he finally managed to lower his head and his eyes fell to Duo's mouth. The small bit of control he gained was taken away again when Duo caught his chin and tilted his head back up to catch his eyes.

"Duo… Nnnuhh..." Heero gasped out quietly, straining to regain control again. Duo's brow arched and he tightened his hold on Heero's chin. The hold wasn't painful but the intense heat and arousal Duo was making him feel, overrode his senses and his ability to reason. He tried to speak again, but his teeth clacked closed nipping his tongue. He shook from the strain of the wasted effort. They were connected, but not and Heero could feel the familiar icy presence that he had tasted from Duo before filling him.

_This…_ his breath caught with the realization. He knew this was what it must have felt like for Duo being suppressed by him, to have all his control taken away and left to his mercy. Heero gasped at the sinuous heat that took the place of the icy tightness in his chest. It almost felt like fingers, but Duo's hands were still holding his head in place. Heero's heart thumped harder at the unexpected pressure on his shoulders, like there were hands bearing down on him. They ran down his chest and pinched him. They pulled and rolled the sensitive nubs there roughly while another set of fingers ghosted along his skin and pressed hard against the nervous bob of his throat.

_No... there's -Duo's… the only ... touching…._ he silenced his disjointed thoughts and forced back the feelings of disgust from memories past until Duo was all he saw. All he felt and found he couldn't think of looking away from Duo anymore. Heero tensed when the hands he couldn't see were suddenly in his pants. He made himself relax and blood rushed down to fill his penis from the extra stimulation, leaving him lightheaded. The fondling increased to strokes and pulls, and then shifted to tease him open from behind the next moment.

Heero couldn't hold back his pants no longer as sweat ran into his hairline, the salty liquid burning his open wound while he fought a will that wasn't his own. It urged him to give in to the numbing pleasure and forget everything else. But he saw Duo gazing at him with a sensual smile curling his lips. His vacant eyes drank him in, chipping away at the last of his resistance.

Heero's eyes slipped closed as his body rocked and the reasons why it was wrong for this to be happening flew from his mind. The danger heightened the sensations assaulting his body. He struggled against the moan rumbling deep in chest, rising to his throat but it came anyway, quiet and wanton. His mouth opened in a startled gasp from the feeling of being filled as it rocked harder into him. He opened his eyes again and found a pleased smile on Duo's face that didn't reach his eyes. Heero felt his legs tremble and spread as his knees protested the painful friction on the grassy, pebbled ground.

The murmur of voices and the smell of the crowd around them came back to him then. Heero's chest constricted, somehow he had forgotten about them. He could tell some of them noticed his supplicant position and Duo's distinctive hair, but weren't clear on the odd movement from his body.

"Duo. No." Heero bit out in a harsh whisper.

Duo's smile became a shark like smirk, bringing with it the same emptiness that drew Heero back to his eyes. Heero watched, powerlessly, as the black of Duo's pupils engulfed the whole of his eyes.

Duo dipped down to his ear, tongue tracing the outer shell then releasing a cool stream of air over it. Heero shuddered and felt Duo's chilled cheek brush against his temple, "You saw me take him away, but still…" a whisper of feeling ran over his ear, Duo's lips were still moving over it though the words had stopped. "...you want ...both?"

"D…" Heero bit his tongue, frustrated by its heavy weight in his mouth and blinked at the focus the pain had given him.

"Greedy." He heard the word glide on a breathy chuckle.

"Duo…"

"I invaded you." Heero gasped at the tightening grip on his penis and the increased pressure jabbing into him. "Still, you don't fear me?" Duo hissed, bafflement creasing his brow as he drew back and black eyes narrowed assessingly at him. That falling feeling returned, threatened to swallow him and Heero couldn't control the shortening of his breath.

Duo licked his lips, "You yield to me..." hesitation colored the seductive silk of Duo's voice, eyes delving into him and reading all there was before Duo's chilled cheek pressed against his again. Heero pressed back unconsciously and shuddered as he grew colder - Duo seemed to be sapping what little heat he had to give and he accepted it.

"I-I've much to do." Duo pulled away, putting a little distance between them and letting his hands drop limply to his sides.

Heero looked at Duo in a daze; the slight furrowing of Heero's brow was the only indication of his irritation at being unable to control how much of his emotions showed. He focused on the hesitation in Duo's voice as the empty smile fixed itself on Duo's face again.

"I shall return for you, my true vessel." Duo said breathlessly, as if he were teetering on the edge of coming with Heero. Duo darted forded, running his lips along Heero's brow and his breath hitched when his lips ghosted over Heero's temple to Heero's ear. Heero heard him swallow just before he whispered the word, "Release."

Heero jerked, plopping down on his rump as liquid heat spread across his groin. The full feeling was gone and it left him wanting.

"Heero?" Heero heard someone calling him from somewhere.

"Heero, what's going on?" Trowa's usual monotone voice was terse and louder in his ear than it should have been. Heero blinked sluggishly at the stone on his shoulder guard, but his limbs were too heavy, his pulse too thick in his throat for him to form a coherent response. The hand on his chin sent chilled trails down his neck, along his collar bone to his shoulder where Duo pulled back the cloak to reveal the stone. Duo touched it lightly, his head jerking up sharply as he stared at something over Heero's shoulder.

Struggling against his eyelids' wont to close, Heero managed to look in the same direction and met Trowa's ashen face. He watched the green eyed man drop to his knees. Trowa's hand was still on the black stone and Quatre nearly followed him down with the sudden shift in support.

Heero felt the air stir around him and then he saw a cloaked figure block the pair from sight. The figure reached down and pulled Quatre to his feet by his arms. The petite blonde's hood fell back; his bruised face was marred by a grimace of pain. Heero recognized Quatre's attacker when he pulled back his own hood and freed a messy ponytail of chestnut hair. Duo held Quatre up without any regard to his obvious suffering and near unconsciousness. Then he was kissing him.

Heero shook his head, regaining control of his body and getting one foot underneath him as confusion and angry jealousy shocked him into action.

"You know who I am?" Heero frowned, jealousy deflating at Duo's question. Duo shook Quatre mercilessly when he remained silent.

"D-Duo," Quatre's miserable gasp came over the stone in a hollow sounding voice, "What's w'ng?"

Heero watched them; Quatre was beginning to waver in Duo's grasp again, but the way Duo was holding his arm had the pain bringing Quatre back each time. Quatre's eyes were barely open, when he spoke again, "Ok? ...an't feel you?"

Heero heard him slur, his voice barely audible on the last words. Heero struggled to get to his feet then flinched at the snapping break and gritting crunch of bone loud in his ear. If it wasn't for the stone on Trowa's shoulder, he wouldn't have known what Duo was doing to Quatre over the commotion of the crowd. He searched for another possible explanation for that sound near them, but there was none. He knew Duo wouldn't hurt someone he valued as a friend like that nor handle them with such little concern. The look on Quatre's face was confirmation enough that something had changed. Quatre's face was nearly white, his lips just as pale except for the blood dripping down the corners of his mouth where he must have bitten through his lip. Heero hoped, for Trowa's sake, it was only his lip.

Quatre stared in stunned disbelief at Duo and Heero's eyes widened when Duo released him to sway on his feet. The bone deep bruising, and red welts from blood pooling under Quatre's skin were gone.

Duo hadn't broken Quatre's arm further. He had healed it.

"The One-"

"Who-"

"-healed that boy!"

Heero frowned, eyes scanning over the crowd as the astonished murmurs grew and brought more attention to where Duo and Quatre stood.

Duo's fingers ran along Quatre's arm then went to the blonde wielder's cheek. Quatre shuddered under the contact. His facial bruises began to fade as he took an unsteady step toward Trowa. Duo grabbed his arm and caught his chin, moving in closer to Quatre until they were nose to nose.

"You are the source." Heero heard Duo rasp over the stone and watched as the air stirred, whipping their cloaks about them. "Aid me. Will it and I shall be."

The air swirling around them ballooned outwards, causing alarmed shouts and people to collide with each other when they couldn't move out of the way fast enough. Then Duo was gone again, leaving Quatre to stand alone, his mouth agape, his eyes rolling back in his head before the lids shut and he collapsed on top of Trowa. Trowa had been prepared for it, his shaking arms raised to ease Quatre's fall. Heero watched them long enough to see Trowa steadily coming back to himself, moving more and checking Quatre over as his concern for his bonded overcame whatever Duo had done to immobilize him.

Heero turned back to search for Duo and managed to stand on unsteady feet. He stumbled forward and a masked monk caught his arm to stay him when he found Duo standing in front of Hilde. There were several other acolytes around them in prone positions on the ground or leaning heavily on the others. Then just like with Quatre, he and Hilde were nose to nose, her mouth open with a helpless expression on her weary face. In the next moment, Duo was gone in a swirl of air flecked with flame and Hilde was left to collapse amongst the other acolytes.

Heero didn't need to look to know that Duo was going to Relena next.

tbc


	24. Chapter XXIV

Unbeta'd

Warnings: Angst, death, and violence.

Pairings: 1x2/2x1, and the pen dabbles around a bit

AN: This may be the longest chapter yet, but I can't bee sure I haven't had time to check the others. I am working on the last chapter ^_^ so there is an end, 3 chapters left

*hugs you all* Thank you guys for reading this confusing story of mine, favs and reviewing!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the sexies in Gundam Wing AC, I just love to see them in different situations, and then sit back and watch the fireworks. *grin

XXIV

"My Lady," Jirrad swept his cape behind him when straighten from the quick bow. The smile on Jirrad's face was condescending as he stared down his nose at the girl he had watched grow up. His smile grew when Relena stared back defiantly from where she stood on a smooth looking, grassy pebbled mound that rose several feet from the ground.

"Is this," Jirrad let the smile slide from his face, stepping forward from the crowd of his soldiers and from Michal's side to the clearing. He stopped just before the grove of trees where a ridge of rock had been forced through the once flat, grassy surface. It ran from the green grove to the sand covered rock grotto home of the Gua. Jirrad tested the ridge of rock with two heavy stumps and let his booted foot rest on the raised, uneven surface. "Is this... how you treat someone you once called father?"

A hush spread over the assembling crowd like the ripples on the water's surface.

Relena grimaced with an annoyed roll of her eyes, "Once and I was mistaken. What you and the Monarch are doing is wrong. You can't deny that wielders outside of the Order are in hiding and for good reason if being captured by you means they meet the same end as all those poor people in the mountains. What right do you have to murder peaceful people to fulfill some prophecy-"

"A prophecy that would restore water to our world and make the lands green again! A chance, worth everything for a dying world like ours." Jirrad shook his head, looking at her sadly, "The very thing we were attempting to do."

Relena snorted, glaring at Jirrad when he gestured toward her and himself. "Not at the expense of people's lives! Do you think I didn't know that more and more of my people died to make those farces you call miracles happen? I just let myself be blind and not believe that you would do something so horrible to help the Monarch. I was mistaken to think of you - - to have trusted you."

"Were you mistaken when you healed me? An impossible feat for such a small girl. One would think that you'd have some misgivings to do such a thing for a stranger? But you were not just any girl, you are the _One_. Or so we thought. You were the one who healed a man when he was bleeding fatally from a severed limb and repaired his nearly sightless eyes after a battle where I was betrayed. This was an incomparable act for such a young, young girl and you did it so selflessly."

Jirrad raised his flat slat gray eyes to Relena and smiled contritely, "You know, that particular battle was against traitors who forced my hand. They wouldn't give me what I asked for when I went to their little gathering. They made it their final decision and hid him away from me. For that, I took their lives, their children and razed most of their village to the ground. Yet… you healed me, even though you stood there watching me as I cut them down-"

"No…" Relena's eyes rounded while her brows furrowed in disbelief as she tried to remember.

"-as my men cut them down, felled like trees." He chuckled darkly, "Indeed, upholding their peaceful ways to the very end."

"No, you're lying."

"Parrots." Jirrad laughed outright, "I didn't think that particular bird resided in Maheran." He chortled, several of his men chuckling along with him. "You and that mutt have gotten quite close for you both to say such similar things."

Jirrad smirked at her fondly, the look in his eyes flat and incredulous, "You delude each other."

Relena shook her head, "They were peaceful! My father, my family, my people were peaceful! They accepted and helped everyone equally! They wouldn't have refused you without good reason! They would have done what I do, if not better!"

"Would they?" Jirrad said with something sharp threading through his flat tone, "I doubt that. Perhaps, perhaps if you had been then... You would've come and tried to save her."

The anger cleared a little from her face while she watched him in curiosity. She felt as if the pain in Jirrad's solemn words seeped from deep inside him. So much so that it left his gaze distant, sorrowful and full of lost. Then his eyes focused on her and a slick slithering grin spread across his face, making it difficult for her to keep looking at him. But she held his gaze, disturbed by the quick change in his demeanor. She wondered who he was referring to. She knew that very few would even know because the majority of the survivors had been children in the time before and their memories – with all that had been done to them – wouldn't provide much insight past certain points.

"Ay, Relena, fine words for one so young. Really, they are when they can do little to aid you. You are outnumbered and these people prefer not to see this..." Jirrad paused as though he couldn't think of the word he had meant to say.

Relena made a face at him, his expression was familiar and that of the fatherly protector she remembered growing up with. She bit the inside of her cheek, trying to keep herself alert despite the heart wrenching familiarity of what used to be.

"This…_truth_." Jirrad's eyebrows curled up, projecting a thoughtful expression, "They want the veil to stay, if it means their lives continue as they are. Lives that are better if they live this life and not believe this _truth_ you're telling them. Especially if it means they lose everything here. What would you offer them then?" Jirrad raised an eyebrow.

"They have a right to know the truth and not the lies that they've been conditioned to accept for over a decade! My people have the right to be free and not hunted or enslaved in any way. They need to know the crimes committed against my people!"

"Done!" Jirrad said in a dismissive snort. His hands splayed palm-up, he swung them out from his body in a wide sweeping motion out to his sides, as if bringing her attention to all the people gathering and those already present. "We stopped the enslavement and hunting of your _most_ sacred people years ago!"

"The Priests-"

"Yes, they did with _our_ help. It was a joint and worthy effort to stop the wicked," his lips curled at the word, "from harming them further. They have all heard you, my Lady. This is more of a conversational piece and if you had wanted to voice this, all you had to do was say so and we would have made a formal announcement."

Relena shook her head, eyes narrowing at his false resigned tone. "You wouldn't have jeopardized your standing and have the Monarch remove you for the rallying of my people."

"Oh, but my dear, I would have. We have been protecting your people all along. If it wasn't for me-"

"You mean, if wasn't for the Order and the Monarch." Relena interrupted, glaring at Jirrad, who blinked at her as if he didn't understand what she meant.

"No… I mean me." His smile broadened, "I control the Monarch. I relegate the priests and have always attended to the One."

"You are so bold to claim such a thing before this many witnesses? Do you not think that word would get back to the Monarch of your betrayal?"

Jirrad glanced around, and then shrugged with a slight wince, his flat gray eyes returned to her face.

Relena kept her glare trained on him, "Where's Duo?"

Jirrad quickly covered his surprise with the exaggerated lift of his brows, "Duo?" There is no one I know by that name. Perhaps you could speak with the One. He can sense many things and maybe he can even tell you where this 'Duo' you speak of can be found. If you seek audience with the One you are free to return as an acolyte in his service."

"Where is he, Jirrad?"

"Are you upset to have been revealed false?" Jirrad smiled in curious consternation, "Or is it jealousy?"

"You haven't answered my question?"

"Haven't I, great healer?" Jirrad quipped, his eyebrows arched in mock befuddlement. "He is here. You'd be shocked to know that you are standing where a healer of your strength once stood nearly a decade ago. An unfortunate loss, but he is here. Where else would he be but with his bonded."

"Bonded?" Relena looked around, searching Jirrad's ranks and the hooded soldiers amidst the monks for a distinctive mop of unruly of hair.

"Yes, the One and I will do much more together."

"You?" Relena gawked at him in shocked abhorrence, "Heero wouldn't-"

"The Principal," Jirrad corrected with a snide look. He smiled tightly as he rubbed the faint line of scar tissue on his left forearm, "has served his purpose and will have other uses. I must say that I would have preferred it to be you." Jirrad's eyes swept over her, "To have _had_ you as my One, but I tire of this. She is with me through him and that is all there is. Michal, bring her and dispose of the rest."

Relena blinked wide eyes at the innuendo inherent in Jirrad's words and gaze. She had never noticed before and couldn't hear the battle cries bursting into the air around her. She watched, in disbelief, as the man who had been one of her suitors and had once considered a long time friend, obediently approached her. She waved away Wu Fei's concerned gaze and hoped he would focus on the soldiers who were attacking him and not endanger himself by coming to her aid. She could protect herself.

Firming her heart, she stumped on the rocky mound beneath her feet. A stone staff, an inch thick shot up from the ground and into her hand. She eyed the soldiers engaged in battle and swarming her people. They pushed past those milling about and confused in the grove, killing those who didn't move fast enough. Then Michal was there, in her face. She took in his short cropped black hair, handsome face and eyes devoid of the person she thought she knew.

"You're really going to do this?" He said nothing and held his hand out to her. "Michal, help me stop him. Help my people."

"I may consider it if you agree to warm my bed in your new position at the One's side." A smile split his handsome face, "I always intended to make you mine but now things have changed. There's no more Heero-"

"What? Heero was never- - what do you mean 'no more Heero'?" Relena broke in with a shake of her head.

"It's not important. Just come back with me."

"You are pitiful. There was no competition as far as you were concerned." She whispered the last to herself, whirling her staff behind her. Relena saw his eyebrows quirk disbelieving at the defensive motion.

"Why bother?" Michal said, eyeing her with a derisive twist to his lips and implying she couldn't use the weapon she had forged from the earth.

"You are wrong to underestimate me." Relena sent the staff sailing through the air to connect with the back of his knees. Michal blinked as his feet were knocked out from under him and his breath left him in a whoosh where his back connected with the downward slope of the mound. Relena let a regretful smirk curl her lips and swung her staff downward; going for a stunning blow to the side of his head, but Michal blocked her with his sword. Michal pushed her staff up and away in a swirl and screech of metal sliding against stone as he quickly rolled back to his feet.

"You refuse me?" Michal heaved out in a shocked breath. His nose flared with each breath that followed as he frowned and reappraised her where she stood. He rolled his head from shoulder to shoulder, waved his sword in a loose grip and slipped but remained standing when he began circling her. It was not lost on Relena that he was attempting to gain better footing on the flat surface of the mound where she stood instead on trying to keep his balance on its slopping sides.

"I have." Relena swung her staff, forcing Michal to slip further down the mound. She glared through the hurt that remained on her face, biting back her urge to reason with the man she thought she knew. "I don't know... I don't know what I thought I saw in you."

"Then I won't give you to anyone!" He thrust sword at her, but she blocked him easily. He came at her again and again, trying to force her back.

"I don't belong to you!" She held here ground and nearly knocked him off his feet again.

Michal raised his sword, swinging at her higher than he should and leaving himself open. She didn't take advantage of it, instead overextending herself to block him. He repeated the move, forcing her to leave her side open when he pressed down on his sword. Relena missed the quick movement of his free hand, reaching behind him when they broke free again.

The wind picked up around them and Relena found herself suddenly blinded by hair. She stumbled back a step, whipping her staff out to block another of Michal's wide swinging attacks and felt the clang of metal against stone. She tensed under the heavy blow, straining to hold her staff while Michal bore down on it. She pushed at the hair in frustration and tried to pull her staff away only to find it was caught on Michal's sword.

_Damn hair!_ The thought of it annoyed her so much that she threatened under her breath to cut it off to her shoulders. Relena grabbed a handful of it, trying to jerk it back behind her, but the self inflicted pain never came. She frowned, her displaced hair shifted from her face. She tilted her head back, curious at her own lack of concern when she should have been worried about leaving herself open to attack instead of staring at the clouds darkening the sky.

_I have to wait. I have to.._ Relena blinked, not understanding her own thoughts. Her grip tightened on the hair it held as she felt the weight of her ponytail settle against her back. She should have felt the movement, but she didn't. None of it made sense to her. Relena steadily pulled herself free of the strange daze she had succumb to and stared unblinkingly at the waterfall of hair in front of her. The wind shifted it, revealing the sharp tip of a blade poking through and jerking slightly in place.

"Duo!" She gasped out, starting to touch the blade when Duo didn't respond, but decided against it and touched his arm instead.

"Duo?" She called to him again, turning him easily toward her then held her next breath at seeing the blade sticking through his side. The wound looked surreal without blood coming from it the way it should have been. She swallowed thickly, ready to fire an angry retort at Michal but found herself speechless when she laid eyes on Michal floundering in Duo's grasp. Michal was blue in the face, one of his hands gripped Duo's wrist until it was an angry red while the other hand switched between pounding on Duo's arm and sporadic jerks. The desperate effort to get free only made Michal tire faster and she watched his eyes begin to close as Duo continued to hold him several feet off the ground.

"Aid me?"

She jumped and lost her grip on her staff, startled by the quiet sound of Duo's voice. She heard it clamor softly with Michal's sword down the side of the mound. Relena pulled her eyes away from Michal's closed ones, nodding absently and forcing her concern for Michal away. She glanced at Duo and found she couldn't complete the action when her breath stalled in her chest. Black sockets were set where vibrant violets used to be. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment then looked again.

At first, they looked empty, and then she saw the movement of Duo's lashes where they fluttered over tar colored black orbs in shadowed sockets. She shakily smiled at Duo, before she boldly took hold of the blade hilt. The smile crumbled when pain broke across the dispassionate look on Duo's face just from her grabbing hold of the hilt. She eased her grip on it and tried to still the shaking of her hand.

"Sorry about that," she flexed her fingers over the leather covered handle/hilt, "but Duo I can protect myself you know? I knew he had another blade. Don't risk yourself like this. You're not invulnerable."

Relena took in a steadying breath and pulled the blade out. She gritted her teeth at the sucking, wet swishing sound the blade made as air passed through with it. She shivered, more for Duo than herself, when he remained perfectly still despite the pain she knew he had to be experiencing. She threw down the dagger and quickly put her hands over each side of the wound. She pressed harder against it when blood sluiced through her fingers like Duo's body just realized it should be bleeding. Relena closed her eyes and willed the torn tissue to reconnect and flesh to knit back together. She frowned at the odd pull from Duo's body.

"You need to be careful-!" her own gasp unexpectedly cut her off when deep seated pain hit her like a fist. She broke out in a sweat, feeling more damage than was possible from a sword wound alone. Duo pulled her away from his side and held her in front of him by a hand on her shoulder.

"Y-you… Let me finish! Duo-the damage… what happen-" She looked at him, her wide blue eyes pleading for some explanation. The stab wound on Duo's right side was still open with blood smeared around it. It began to bleed again, but sluggishly, the rest of the blood hidden beneath Duo's tunic. She tried to reach for the wound, but Duo was quick, catching her arms and holding her in place.

Relena trembled when Duo's cold hand was suddenly under her chin, tilting her head back so he could press his nose to hers. She gasped, meeting black orbs that looked right through her. They lacked any emotion and being this close, they looked like black holes in his head.

"No… you're hurt…" but the strength of her protest faded to a breathy whisper near his lips as he inhaled at her every exhale. "Use… me… you… you're killing… him."

Relena slumped, drained and Duo let her fall, the wind guiding the descent to her knees. She swayed and tried to stand but the wind restrained her. She blinked sluggishly at where Duo had dropped Michal. The man made choking sounds, but didn't move from where he landed.

O-OoO-O

The force of the wind grew, whipping around Duo in a swirl of dirt, grass and leaves while his hair and clothes remained undisturbed. Duo stepped away from Relena, his face expressionless, though his brows twitched when soldiers tried to advance on Relena. Ethan, Thecla, and Wu Fei had been forced far enough away that they wouldn't make it back to assist her if they attacked her.

Duo blinked once his brows relaxing as the ground opened beneath the soldiers' feet. Half of them were not quick enough to react and fell into the holes he created. The ground slammed shut cutting off their screams, crushing them and appearing as if it had never opened.

Duo didn't have to look back to see the men taking furtive steps or jabbing at the ground as they inched their way across to try and seize Relena. Duo's lips curled and they all scrambled back when the earth opened and a few more fell to their deaths. The wind whipped several across the grove, and then swatted them to the ground like insects when they tried to jump to the mound Relena rested on.

Jirrad raised his hand to them halting their movements all together. He bowed slightly, "Of course you would not want an invaluable wielder, such as she, touched after being threaten." He gave Duo a slick smile and a slight tilt of his head, "It will not happen again."

Duo walked calmly towards him and Jirrad waved his soldiers out of the way, sending them past Relena to reinforce those fighting around her. Jirrad extended his left hand, "I am glad to see you have returned to me, Amadahy. Come, join us here, and we shall dispense with these nuisances."

Black orbs regarded him. The light of day fading as clouds roiled in the sky making the dark circles under Duo's eyes heavier. Duo gave Jirrad an empty smile, showing all his teeth, "We intend to share all."

Jirrad's brows furrowed at the second voice that overlapped Duo's. It was a lilting and almost feminine sound that was just as provocative as the wielder's own. Suddenly, Jirrad grasped his left hand as it jerked and his fingers strained when they flexed too far and clenched too tight. Jirrad growled low in throat, his glare contorting with a mixture of pain and disbelief as the skin swelled and blackened before his eyes. Jirrad whipped his arm back in a swirl, wrapping it in his long cloak and gritting his teeth as he worked to keep his pale face devoid of what he was really feeling.

Jirrad narrowed his eyes at Duo. "It seems, you remember too much through him." Jirrad whispered before shaking his head, "It would have been better if you had just taken his body to use as your own."

Duo looked at him with detached interest.

"Contain him!" Jirrad ordered sharply, with something akin to regret flashing across his face as he retreated along the rocky ridge.

Black orbs gave the soldiers creeping toward him a dispassionate onceover. The ground opened and swallowed them down without a second glance from him. The fighting escalated around him. He could feel the pain and suffering of the fallen, the conflicting emotions of those who've yet to choose and the ignorance of those who chose not to acknowledge any of it. He stared at the people who stood at the fringes of large gaping holes in the ground where the wall had once been, some began to scatter others just stared back at him.

Duo smirked absently, it left him unsatisfied.

Duo's eyes narrowed as screams suddenly rang out among the people on the fringes. In several places, the ground shook and exploded up into a mud trap. It held several people in silently, moving masses of exposed limbs. He heard the startled gasps of people around the mounds and saw some of them try to pull them free. Duo smirked and the mud whipped out from the sides, pulling them in before they could alert anyone to what was happening.

Duo observed the varying reactions when more and more people realized that people were missing. That was when they saw the mounds, the reaching and waving limbs, and realized those missing people were trapped inside them. Duo waited until crowds started to gather around the mounds, then had the mud shift, pulling the people and their rescuers completely inside. Before anyone else could try to pull the mound apart, Duo called to the flame. It sent small bursts of smoke along the dried leaves on the ground near the mounds and seemed to jump from the charred bits to burst into life across the mounds' surfaces. Duo widened the flames and they flared outward, sending people reeling back from the intense heat.

Duo's smirk grew in its malevolent intent.

Several other pyres shot up amongst the crowd, sending people screaming and others crying out in shocked horror. An acolyte came to him then with tears in her hazel eyes. She recklessly grabbed his arm and bowed. Her shoulders shook as she pressed her forehead to the back of his hand and kissed it. Dark orbs focused on her, unmoved by her display.

"Please! Oh, by the One! Please, stop this! M-my bonded is there! He's-!" a sob broke through her words. She raised her head and gestured wildly at a burning mound nearly on the other side of the grove. She forced herself to speak through another sob, "He's all I have! He's my world! Please! I know and can sense your pain, bu-"

Her hazel eyes went wide as she choked on whatever else she was trying to say. She strained to look down at Duo's hand around her neck. Duo sneered, the black of his eyes shifting to subdue the color that had began to show. "You need not say anything more." He lifted her off her feet, numb to the nails that dug into his arm and created bloody furrows in his skin. "Join him."

Duo simply let go of her throat and she was thrown into the slosh of bubbling mud and sucked down deep until nothing more of her could be seen. He straighten, taking in the discord, agony and fear around him with a vacant smile curling his lips. His hold was restored.

He turned to pursue Jirrad, but frowned at fighting people blocking his path. His brows furrowed when Jirrad caught sight of him. Duo watched as the white haired man pushed more violently and started cutting people down who blocked him. The sky darkened further with Duo's frown even though the empty smile remained in place. The clouds thickened and ice pelted the entire city, inciting screams of dismay. A thunderclap drowned out all sound in one deafening booming rumble, only for it to return in a discordant roar that called to Duo's buried memories.

"Ice from the mountain comes from the sky!"

"This is the end!"

The frantic cries pulled Duo away from memory's grasp. His head swiveled to his left and a monk made an inarticulate sound when Duo's eyes held his behind a white mask with squiggly lines on the left cheek.

"We have done so little... no wonder you came. So many have fallen!" The monk sobbed out before he dropped to his knees before him. The monk removed his mask and held it up in shaking hands toward Duo.

Duo's brow twitched, the monk was blocking his path. He looked at him indifferently and stepped past him, too intent on the course Jirrad was taking to bother with the man.

"The end of all things… the end of all things…." The monk muttered in a half sob to himself before he collapsed forward onto his forearms.

Duo spared him from the sword that threaten to severe his head from his body and turned him to vapor in a roll of one black eye.

Obsidian orbs roved over the struggling bodies in front of him, blind to their strife and peril. He called to the wind and it responded to him in eager gusty streams that whipped around his body. With one exhaled breath from him, the wind carried out his desire and indiscriminately swept combatants from his path. It swirled them into the sky and through the funneling clouds overhead. Their shocked screams and pleas waned the higher the wind took them up into the clouds before their voices returned then were quickly snuffed out as they were flung into homes, shops, and the temple itself.

All about him, people screamed for their kin, for their losses and for themselves. Duo reveled in the sound, a small part of him cringed but it was forced to the background. His vacant smile threaten to split his face as he surveyed the cleared path and caught sight of Jirrad running down the colonnade into the semi-enclosed foyer toward the entryway his vessel had brought him through. Those around him saw Duo disappear and then reappeared walking on the marbleized floor of the foyer. He watched the white haired man's face contort as he shifted. Jirrad's face stretched outward into a wolf's snout and the shifting of his bones under his skin slowed his mad dash to the door to a limping jog. Duo blocked him with a wall of black water.

Jirrad slowed his pace as he approached it and scrutinized the black wobbling mass blocking the entryway. He laughed, turning to Duo, his ruin forearm clutched in one long fingered, claw-like hand. "Didn't like my use of you?"

Duo stared blankly back, the unchanging vacant smile sent a shiver through Jirrad that the white haired man quickly staunched.

Jirrad growled, dropping into a squat as his feet morphed and broke through his boots. "You were meant to be my bonded! You're family refused me!" He looked to Duo affronted. "They said I wasn't your bonded! Doubted that I was led to you, but I knew you had to be here! The mark, you i_being/i_ proves it! I searched for you for so long then that mutt-" Jirrad broke off with an indignant shake of his head and a frustrated gesture of his remaining hand, "had nothing to do with it - with us! But I knew! I knew it was you, because our souls are linked to our elements… I could find no other wielder as strong … fewer and fewer water wielders were being born and dying much too soon … but I knew… the clan wardens knew and feared- -you had d-died. You died... you would die and come back in the last… yes, the last…"

The string of words was nearly incoherent, but Duo said nothing. He just stared at Jirrad, watching the sorrowful longing heavy in the white haired man's voice twist across the warden's face before yellow-gray frenzied eyes refocused on him. Jirrad shook in barely restrained anger, "You were mine from the start! It is only right we be reunited and this world be ours!"

Duo observed him, unaffected by the white haired man's zeal.

"No matter," Jirrad started in a quiet and anguished whisper, "no matter what clan I took you to, they refused to heal you, to bring you back to me! For that-!" he quieted, violent rage simmering beneath his skin. Jirrad fisted his hand to stop its shaking.

"For that, I made them pay." Jirrad declared with a vehement, stricken look to him before he let loose a snarl that warped one side of his face. He approached Duo, pleased to see Duo didn't run or move out of his reach. Jirrad tried to hold the gaze of the black orbs in the shadowed foyer, "Amadahy."

Duo blinked at the name, his face taking on a look of curiosity.

"Yes. Amadahy..."

The name made Duo frown the second time it was spoken. It was familiar, but he couldn't remember if it was a name he had been given or he had heard too much. But he knew it was a dead name. Duo blinked again, a long slow movement that made him aware of how tired his eyes were. Unconsciously, he tilted his head when he drew a blank on where he was. He frowned, when he tried to remember who he was and squinted curiously at the man who stood before him.

_That's… _The thought stuttered to a stop, things-memories that did and at the same time didn't belong to him came to him. The tension in his head made itself painfully known as he tried to find himself amongst the memories.

_Different…_ it was a quiet whisper that wasn't his own. It was feminine. It was the same voice who made the false dream and the pain stop. She came forward and a hand, his hand rose and stopped short of his face as his curiosity became confused wonder.

"You remember." Jirrad spoke as if he were in a daze, and the warden's mouth warped into a toothy grin.

Duo didn't remember. There was pain, violation and hate simmering through him, shared with her. She remembered and Duo's face reflected her sadness, his pain and their hate.

"You… had no say! It was not for you to decide…" Duo gasped out in a lilting whisper.

Jirrad arched a brow, straightening as best he could and staying in his half changed state, "Yes, I did! You were mine!"

Duo shook his head, "_He_ had chosen another." Duo glared at Jirrad, who growled at his comment, "They had chosen each other as it was meant to be, as it has always been done. As we had done once…"

Duo's glare became both thoughtful and conflicted as he spoke through a gasp, "You-! You made him the last! This was not to come yet. This was not- You caused the downfall of our people... This place, it... it reeks of-" his head swiveled about quickly taking in everything around them as his nose wrinkled, "This world-"

"All for you!" Jirrad exploded, arms making a wide sweeping gesture.

"For a memory."

Jirrad shook his head. "We can have the children that were denied to us. Shema, Jaden, Ad- - Rule as no other clan had dreamed!" Jirrad smiled, holding out his uninjured arm in a placating gesture. He beckoned Duo to come to him with a twitch of his clawed fingers.

"No."

Jirrad jerked in place as if he had been slapped.

"He is not me." The vacant smile returned, stealing away the last vestiges of emotion from Duo's face, "We are not her. She has passed."

"No," Jirrad's shook with suppressed emotion as he took a step back then took one forward again. "Amadahy, speak to me again. Amada-!" He choked back the sob the name nearly became. "Give her back to me!" he growled, face twisted in pain deeper than what he felt from his mutilated arm.

Duo tilted his head at the demand and ignored it with a considering glance over Jirrad's person. "You have stolen time," Duo's eyebrows shifted upward, his eyelids drooping as black orbs stared at Jirrad as if they could see into him. His lips curled into a malicious yet amused smirk. "You are a fractured being of borrowed parts," then flattened into a pitying grimace, "Warden, you have been thus too long."

Jirrad shook his head, a wild look in his flat yellowish-gray eyes while a smile twitched on and off his face.

"All of this, I've done for you," he announced in a reverent whisper, "I did it to bring you back to me so that we could be together again. Amadahy, I called you!" Jirrad's voice boomed off the Foyer's high ceilings. In following silence, all the warden could hear was the whistle of wind through the foyer's high arches and his own labored breaths. He stared imploringly at the being standing before him.

Duo stared back at him, a vacant smirk firmly taking hold of mouth.

"No. You have paved the way in bodies, pain, hatred and despair..." the smirk stretched, curling one corner of Duo's mouth while the tip of his tongue ran briefly over his bottom lip, "You... called death."

Jirrad made an incoherent, tortured sound that transformed into an enraged howl as he lunged at Duo.

The air shifted, Duo was suddenly farther away and Jirrad ended up in an awkward sprawl on the stone floor. Jirrad growled, jumping to his feet and ran at him again.

"I, thank you." Duo said with an airy emptiness as his black orbs continued to stare forward without blinking. "It's so nice to be out and have my turn at the world." A manic smile replaced the smirk and spread across Duo's pale face.

Jirrad couldn't reign in his shudder this time; the smile was too much like a skull's grin. He feinted to the sides, Duo's large black orbs remained fixed on where he had been. Jirrad smiled and made a swipe at Duo, sure that he would strike him. But Jirrad smile of triumph quickly became a grimace of pain as he shuddered and coughed out in shock. Then he flinched violently when the force of his strike was thrown back at him.

He tried again and again, but his attacks were returned each time. While Duo remained unfazed, only his hair flying forward as the wind blocked each of Jirrad's attacks. Jirrad panted, bloody saliva dripping off the sides of his long toothed maw. He hunched down over his deformed left arm, his other raised hand shook in the air a few feet in front of him. He swiped again at Duo and was quickly overwhelmed by the unseen blows that beat him back. This time they didn't stop because he stopped, they kept hitting him until he was knocked from his feet and into the wall of water. Jirrad stiffened as the icy dark mass soaked through to his skin and held him suspended from the ground.

Duo had his hands out in front of him so Jirrad could see him slowly reduce the space between them and see the motion mimicked by dark watery mass that held him.

Duo caught the nervous flick of the warden's eyes when he caught on, even as a shock of lightning white-out everything around them.

"Amada-!"

Duo pushed his hands forward suddenly and the water swelled, submerging Jirrad's face first, cutting off the name. Then he brought is fingers together, interlacing them so only a circular space remained between them and his touching thumbs. Dark orbs glanced up, lips twitching in approval at the spherical column the dark water mass had formed. Duo dropped his hands to his sides and watched Jirrad struggle inside it.

Duo's head tilted examining the column as the wind swirled around it. He allowed an air pocket to form around Jirrad's nose. He called to the flame and it burst into life, swirling with the wind around Jirrad's watery prison. Duo held out his hand toward the half wall that revealed the open space of the grove. Lightning flashed across the sky, stealing away the color and when it returned, Duo held a white blue bolt that zigzagged across his hand. His palm reddened where it crackled and danced. The patch of burnt skin healed then was burnt again as the bolt continued to move.

The downward shift of Duo's eyebrows was the only indication that the black orbs had rolled back to Jirrad, who continued to struggle in his prison.

"See."

Jirrad jerked in place, his eyes rapidly blinking even though they were closed. He couldn't move his arms, couldn't move anything except his head. He shook it, trying to get his eyes to open fully and the images that appeared before his eyes to stop. They were the images of people living their lives, and then their deaths at his hand, by his word and through his betrayal. He recognized some of them, but the others he didn't know personally.

"Feel," Jirrad's mouth opened and bubbles exploded out of it as he screamed, "all that you have given to others. I leave you with this."

"A gift," there was a brief flutter of dark brown lashes when Duo looked up at Jirrad then back down at his hand.

Duo watched the living energy flicker in his palm for a moment longer, before he swung his extended hand from the garden to Jirrad. The bolt danced in a zigzag and then leapt toward the wide eyed warden. A satiated smirk replaced the crazed smile that stretched Duo's blue tinted lips at the garbled sound of Jirrad's screams. The lightning sent low charged pulses through the heated water. Duo slowly increased the strength of the charge, adding dirt to the column of graying water until all the water was absorbed and the fire hardened the makeshift tomb.

A shudder snuck up on Duo and control was lost for a few moments. The elements he held in check lashed out violently, cracking the marble floor and splitting several columns, while creating a mini wind funnel. Duo growled behind clenched teeth, closing his eyes briefly to force it away. He swayed in place and calm return to the foyer. The elements continued to surround Jirrad in his tomb. Duo sent the mound hurtling through several of the stone columns of the colonnade and through the walls of the foyer.

He released his hold over the unmoving, half crumbled mound and it remained deeply embedded in a far wall within the palace-temple. He stepped back out into the garden. Duo didn't notice the grass shriveling beneath his feet, the neighboring shrubs turn a withered brown nor did he see the ground blackening and cracking open with his every step. He left behind a scarlet trail in the heel of his footsteps. It spread through the cracks and grass sprung up, replacing all that had died. The same thing happened when the grass reached the shrubbery.

Duo walked on, heading toward the center of the grove, leaving a trail of death and renewed life behind him.

tbc


	25. Chapter XXV

Unbeta'd

Warnings: Angst, death, violence, and vague reference to past NCS and abuse.

Pairings: 1x2/2x1, and the pen dabbles around a bit

AN: If you come across any misspellings or problems with the flow, let me know I'll go back and work on it. Thank you guys for reading this confusing story of mine, favs and reviewing!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the sexies in Gundam Wing AC, I just love to see them in different situations, and then sit back and watch the fireworks. *grin*

XXV

Heero spotted Duo, stepping out from the foyer and moving past the columns of the open colonnade at the next blinding flash of light. He could hear the groan of the foyer's supports before it caved in on itself. Plumes of dust and smoke exploded through the walls on that side of the palace-temple. He saw people running out of the smoke, aflame and the yellow-red glow flickered through the ominous smoke before it flared outward as if reaching for their fleeing backs.

Heero wrinkled his nose as the smell of more burning flesh drifted on the wind. It carried an underlying scent that was far too familiar for him to be mistaken about.

"Jirrad."

Heero's eyes flicked back to Duo, who was continuing his silent stroll without a misstep. Duo's face was cloaked in shadows, which added a gaunt appearance to his face. His pale skin was nearly white in the graying light and the dark circles Heero had noticed under Duo's eyes had grown darker. They looked like sickly furrows or thick, black smudges of ink that made Duo's already wide eyes appear larger than they were.

_He looks like death…_ Heero shook off the paralyzing thought, _Duo, I'm coming. Just wait._

Out of the corner of his eye, Heero caught the glint of metal in the faded afterglow of a lightning flash. He sidestepped the sword thrust, but he wasn't quick enough. He winced, sucking in his stomach and barely catching the sword plunging toward his abdomen.

He yanked on the sword, ignoring the pain of the blade slicing open the palm of his hand in favor of keeping the soldier's arm overextended and off balance. The soldier glared in surprise, certain he had had the upper hand.

Heero ensured the soldier couldn't recover the ground he had lost, his shoulders tensed as he launched his forehead into the soldier's face. He head butted him twice more before pushing the sword away from him and sending the man in a tremulous spin in the same direction. The soldier's sword dropped to the ground, trailing while he wobbled and crashed into people.

As soon as the soldier was out of sight, Heero searched for Duo again. The braided wielder was steadily making his way toward the center of the grove where he could see Relena had risen to her knees but was leaning heavily on a feline Wu Fei at her side. Heero followed, his steps slowing as his brows bunched together at the ground Duo had previously treaded.

He watched Duo step over the fallen without any hesitance, and simply step free of a hand that grabbed his foot. It stayed upraised briefly before it fell limp to the ground. There was an eerie stillness in his wake and the number of bodies Heero saw on the ground was far fewer than what made sense. Heero frowned, looking at the bodies Duo had just passed. The bodies appeared to fall apart and fade, blending with the dirt, grass and other plants in the grove until there was nothing left.

"Nothing. Nothing left but the earth." Heero absently muttered to himself, the thought left him chilled to his core before he snapped himself out of its depressing pull.

"Du-!" Another thunderclap drowned out his call.

The angry throb in his head and the fire along his temple increased in a sudden dizzying wave that blurred his sight. He squeezed his eyes shut, swaying on his feet, and then blinked until his vision cleared. Heero searched the writhing bodies and found Duo again, undaunted and steadily moving forward.

Heero started forward and growled a curse as four soldiers encircled him, blocking his way. He narrowed his eyes at one soldier in particular. The man had darkening bruises across his bloody, most likely broken, nose. Heero recognized the man right away as the soldier he had spared and left stumbling behind him mere moments before.

"Always," the soldier spat bloody in Heero's direction, "thought you were better than us, didn't ya?"

Heero barely recognized the sneering soldier as someone he had trained with as he excelled under Jirrad's special attention, and then in turn, commanded alongside Treize. "The commander's not going to protect you anymore."

"He never did," Heero snorted, glaring at the foolish man the other three had chosen to backup. "Move."

The other two men laughed and all of them converged on him, but Heero was faster. He surprised the two men on his left by flinging the blood, which had pooled in his injured palm, into their eyes and faces. He ducked under the swinging arm of another, kicking then kneeing the soldier in the gut on his way up. Heero then caught the man by the back of his neck and yanked him down to greet his knee again, finishing him off with a sharp elbow jab to the center of his back.

Panting, Heero barely had time to kick the man out of his way before he was doing a flip over the staff coming at him from the side with a pain filled grunt. He landed awkwardly, but caught hold of the staff and shoved it back into the bloody face soldier's throat. The man stumbled and Heero disposed of him with two quick whacks to the head. He turned, dropping the staff and balling his fingers of his throbbing, bleeding hand into a fist. He brought up his forearm, extending it in front of his face like a shield and barreled into the soldier he had mistakenly spared.

"Yu-ah!" The man bellowed, spittle flying from his mouth as Heero forced his sword away from him and his knuckles cracking the mouthy soldier's jaw. Heero kept his forward momentum and heard the soldier grunt then his teeth clack together when his forearm connected with the man's chest. He reminded himself there was still one more soldier to deal with as the other one shook of his shock and began to struggle half-way above him.

The soldier winced, his feet dragging and twisting awkwardly when he tried to regain his footing. He smiled down at Heero's exposed back and raised his sword in preparation to drive it down into the vulnerable cloth covered expanse.

Heero caught movement in the corner of his bruised eye. A quick glance to his right revealed the last bloody faced soldier charging at him from behind. Heero reached over his head, ignoring the pain in his left side from the stretch, and caught his captive's sword hand. He sandwiched his fingers in between the soldier's and squeezed them over the hilt, ensuring that his captive couldn't escape his hold or fling the sword down at him. He grunted, gritting his teeth against his wavering vision as several blows rained down on his head. Heero kept the sword aloft, twisting the soldier's hand and making him yowl in pain.

"Idiot! I don't need to use my sword!" Heero flinched when the soldier's fist connected with his sore ribs. He pivoted on the balls of his feet and shifted the soldier's weight from his arm to his shoulder. "I can do more than enough with one fist! I'd like to see the face of the idiot who trained you - with a move like this; it seems he spent more time fucking you than teaching!"

The soldier slapped his rear and groped him, but his amusement was short lived. His laughter turned stained by the hitching of his own breath. The wicked glee that played on his face became shock as his whole body jerked and his head thudded against Heero's back.

Heero saw the soldier's eyes stretch and his mouth open on a dark bubble. The soldier jerked again as he pressed him forward and further onto the other soldier's sword. Before the other soldier could recover from the shock of killing his comrade, Heero threw the dead soldier he used as a shield into the other. They collapsed in a tangle of limbs and Heero vaulted over a knot of combatants struggling on the ground. Heero screamed behind gritted teeth and bloodless, pressure thinned lips as his landing sent fire along his ribs and through his chest.

"Duo!" He choked out and skidded to a stop.

Suddenly, Heero flung his arms wide for balance. A strong wind, lined in debris, scooped up a handful of people into the air. He grunted at the unexpected pull on his arm. Everything grayed out then faded back into focus, but his body was already reacting on instinct - he leaned backward and dug his heels into the ground to resist the pull of the wind.

Heero looked down his arm and frowned at the mud covered person, who had a desperate grip on him. Shocked, Heero stumbled forward and heard the person whimper before he leaned back, avoiding another sweep from the wind in their direction. He shook his head, welcoming the pain from his head wounds to counter the one from his ribs.

He started to pry the fingers off his arm without any real thought, until his eyes fell upon the tear strained, muddy face of the person - young child - for a second time. There were multiple lacerations and bruises on the child's face, but his death grip on his arm told him he was aware enough of what letting go of him meant. The feeling of a numb, hot wetness going down his side troubled Heero. But Heero pushed the dread away from him, clenching his jaw and looping his arm around the boy to pull him backward. Heero kept pulling until the boy was free of the wind's grip.

They fell.

Or, at least, he knew they should have fallen because that's the only way he could explain how he was currently on the ground. He couldn't remember the actual fall, just a distant thud somewhere. Heero slowly came to realize he was panting, while he watched the swirling gray-white masses filling the sky in a daze. His head rolled from shoulder to shoulder, the cold sweat that sprung up all over his body made his skin feel too tight and his blood feel like it was straining to pass through every vein.

Heero exhaled in a shudder that left a deaden feeling in the left side of his chest and sound returned in a pop of cutting pain. His left side was mostly numb except for the steady quiver in his arm and the heavy ache in his chest when he breathed. The clouds shifted, some forming lumps that churned amongst themselves, making the sky above look like a large mixing bowl of gruel.

Others swirled, falling toward the earth, before swirling back up again and forming a circle of open space. Heero looked on and realized there were dozens of them. Some of them were solely masses of ominous clouds, but several had cones and some held the same distinctive dark circles in their centers. It drew the eyes and many people all over Maheran paused to look at them in helpless wonder.

Heero had to look away; the swirling movements were making him dizzy and he forced himself to sit up. He instantly straightened, his face pale from when he started to curl forward. He ended up coughing until a coppery tasting film coated his tongue. He spat in the grass to the right of him, squinting at his left side to find the boy still holding onto him with his eyes closed and a white fingered grip on his arm. He freed his arm by prying the boy's fingers loose. Heero paused long enough to check the boy's breathing and pulse, which were rapid but steady, before he pushed himself onward.

His surroundings blurred in and out until he found Duo standing in the middle of a flat grassy dip. The flat grassy area sat between the ridges of rock Jirrad had stood atop previously and the dirt mound Relena eased her way down on Wu Fei's arm. Heero approached calmly, unconcerned with the people who bumped into him or tripped him. A thunderclap reverberated though his chest and made him aware of how hard it was for him to breathe, but he didn't let that slow him down.

Duo rose up on the tips of toes and the soft soled shoes Heero had hastily put on him crumbled, leaving his feet bare as he floated a few feet off the ground. Black eyes surveyed all in disinterest. Duo's head tilted to the side as he observed the people fighting and pushing each other closer and closer to him. All at once, Duo's look became calculating.

Heero frowned at the sudden hollow sensation beneath his feet. In the next second his eyes went wide as he leapt backwards, narrowly missing the wide crack that appeared in the ground as soon as his feet left that area. He had little doubt falling into that pit would have lead to his demise. He followed the seam as it broke up and opened in several different places around Duo. Unsuspecting people fell to their deaths, and their screams silenced by the ground snapping shut over them. The subsequent quakes from the shifting earth rocked many from their feet in the vicinity.

Then the lightning came. It struck random people, leaving scorched impact cracks along the ground with a flurry of ash and charred chunks of flesh and clothing. It revived the smell of burnt flesh in the air. Others found their bodies ballooning out then shriveling around them, before they collapsed, leaving shinny husks of blacken skin stretched over the hard lines of bone.

Although many of their people had fallen, none of the people from Acai were affected by the forces at work all around him. Heero wondered if it was because they were wielders, but he dismissed that as a reason because the majority of them couldn't wield. So it had to be that Duo recognized Quatre's symbol. Armed people, fire wielders and shifters from both sides struggled to defend themselves while protecting the earth wielders, who worked to counter all that Duo had let loose upon them. They tried to protect others by closing the ground as soon as Duo had opened it, diffusing and blocking the lightning with walls of earth and grounding those the wind tried to claim or cushioning the fall of those the wind had taken with mud vines.

There was a low deep rumble in the sky and then in a flash of lightning, the stench of fear and death returned tenfold. The wielders from Acai, Maheran and those who had come because of Duo's call were soon overwhelmed and horror filled screams followed the lightning that jumped cloud to cloud. Unpredictable in its strikes, the lightning left lines of charred remains amongst shops in the market place and all through the palace-temple grounds.

Just as quickly, one of the circles in the sky disappeared in a swirling descent of whitish gray fluff near the outer edges of Maheran. An answering stir of wind from the ground kicked up dust and shacks in its rush upward and away from the descending column of clouds. When the cloud funnel withdrew, there was an eerie hush and stillness in its place. Many of the buildings had been replaced with strips of debris and empty lots.

There was an even larger cloud funnel dropping down in the distance over a city Heero knew to be in that direction and it stayed down longer. A plum of black smoke raced outward from where the funnel seemed to meet the ground. Some of the black smoke was sucked up into the swirling mass as a deep red-yellow fiery glow flashed though the billowing clouds of black and gray smoke at its base.

Heero stubbornly moved forward, stumbling as his legs trembled in warning, but he had his sights set on Duo's pale visage where he remained standing, staring unwaveringly up at the sky. Heero followed his gaze and his eyes widened, a frown furrowing his sweaty brow. Duo was standing directly under one of those wide circles of darkness. Time seemed to stop everywhere else except for the clouds. They began to cover the dark circle in a conical shape that started a descending tilt toward Duo.

Heero wanted more than anything to be there with him and in his next breath he was.

Heero gasped through the sudden shock of finding himself in front Duo and shuddered uncontrollably. He was weak kneed and needles pricked his left side, the sharp stabs of pain were dulled by the heavy pressure filling his chest. It was the only thing he could feel on that side of his torso and it distracted him from the displaced air shifting agitatedly around him. Heero hugged himself and locked his knees until it subsided. The rumble of thunder drowned out his heavy breathing and lightning flashed, whiting out everything. All Heero could see was outer edges of Duo's profile.

Color slowly bled back in, revealing the sharp contrast between the dark bruises and the sallow white coloring of Duo's skin. When next Heero blinked, he found depthless black orbs trained on him. He avoided getting caught in them and instead he looked down at Duo's arm stretched out in the space separating them. Heero's gaze flicked up to meet Duo's eyes and then down again. Duo's hand was cupped, knuckles almost brushing against Heero's chest where he held the crackling energy of lightning as if it were nothing. Heero could smell Duo's skin burning as the lightning bolt danced agitatedly across his palm.

Obsidian orbs copied his movement with a flutter of lashes. Duo's expression tweaked in surprised irritation, before he dropped his hand to his side and smothered the energy against his thigh.

Heero gasped, reaching out to stop him, but Duo was too quick. He watched the sparks burn holes through Duo's dark blue leggings on its way down his leg. Once the lightning reached Duo's bare foot, Duo rubbed it into the ground and smoke whiffed from around his dirt smudged feet.

Wu Fei and Relena stood stiffly at the bottom of the mound a little ways away from them, but their focus was on Duo. They had seen it too - Duo had stopped the lightning bolt from hitting him.

"Duo," his breath left him in little white puffs, the air around Duo was cold and getting colder.

Duo's brow twitched, while the dark orbs watched him with blank detachment. What little emotion Heero had seen was gone, but he could still smell him. Duo's scent was stronger even though that same foreign smile remained fixed on his face. "I know you can hear me. What are you doing?"

The smile curled further on Duo's lips, "What I was called to do, my vessel."

"To kill?" There was another twitch in Duo's brow, a faint movement Heero would have missed if he allowed his heavy eyes to close like they demanded.

"They needed to feel it. They need to know the pain of all those that were. They needed to know why I've come. They know this and fear it. They fear me. Even in praise they fear me, but not you…" Duo's head tilt inquisitively toward him, and then his brows unfurrowed as if he remembered something, "You accept me."

Heero nodded, even though his vision swam with the movement.

"Hmm."

The deep contemplative rumble slipped like fingers along Heero's ear and through his hair. Heero swallowed, frowning at the twitch of interest in his pants. He tried to focus on one of the twin Duos standing in front of him, "Duo, this is not like you."

"Then you understand nothing. They chose this path, so they answer for it."

"You're killing people. Most of them are innocent."

"Most... No one is purely such." Even as the words left Duo's mouth, a frown crinkled his brow with a fleeting look of mild frustration, "You, speaking blindly? Of all others, you know how they are and what they do to each other. When you lost your family, no one stopped what was being done to you."

The color drained from Heero's face as the past came back to him. But what worried him more was that Duo somehow knew. Heero stopped himself from gritting his teeth and caught the steady gaze Duo had on him. Duo was watching his response. He blanked his face as best he could, not wanting to reveal anymore of himself than he already had.

_Duo doesn't know. He wouldn't. _He had tried to tell Duo about how bad things had gotten, about what had happen to him and his family but Duo had stopped him. No one else knew except Relena, Treize and his uncle. Unless, Jirrad told Duo.

"Fraix," he wasn't sure he had actually spoken his uncle's name, considering the knot of anxiety suddenly lodged in his throat. Heero held on to his dead uncle's image, letting it reassure him and help force his mind away from the darker memories.

Duo snorted, "One person, while everyone else chose not to do anything and you still defend them?"

Heero shook his head in answer, the motion was jerky but he held Duo's dark gaze unflinchingly, "That-that one person makes-made all the difference. You were the first to get me to see that, Duo. They were not responsible." He said with as much conviction he could muster even though his voice had become reedy while he spoke, "I won't agree to the punishment of innocents for the faults of others and you shouldn't either, Duo. It's not something you would do, considering - Duo... they have families. You'll leave their children at the mercy-"

"Enough!" Duo snapped and with it, Duo's scent grew stronger.

"You'll be repeating what Jirrad has done to you! To Relena. Quatre… "

"To you?"

"Yes, even to me, and countless others, leaving them to be preyed upon."

Heero noticed the vacant smile couldn't settle on Duo's face as easily this time as it had the last. It kept collapsing on itself when it tried to spread wider, twitching at the corners of Duo's mouth.

"You know, better than me, the kind of life they - _you_'ll be subjecting them to. Don't focus only on what happened here or what you experienced in the mountains. What would you be accomplishing then?"

Duo shuffled his feet, "It is as they made it."

"Are you saying you like it like this? That you condone what Jirrad and others have done to bring us to this point?"

"No," Duo whispered absently with a shake of his head, "I was called for retribution and I've come to give it."

"That's not all you are. Don't let only the darkest of your emotions control you. Don't forget-" Heero swayed, stumbling forward while he tried to find his center and he lost his train of thought.

The unintentional movement brought him closer to Duo and Duo allowed it with an inquisitive arch of his brow. Duo watched Heero curiously, like he was waiting for him to fall, and it would be an amusing thing to see.

Heero didn't give into gravity; instead he struggled for his next breath. The heavy pressure in his left side was spreading with a kind of prickly numbness that made his heart beat harder and his chest hurt worse.

"You've done enough." He rasped out, in a voice he barely recognized as his own. Heero tried to remember what he had been saying before. Clenching his teeth to stop their chattering, he cleared his throat with some difficulty. He tried to lick his dry lips, but his tongue was a lazy, weighty thing in his mouth. "C-come with me... and we'll …leave."

Duo shook his head, a peevish glint in his eyes and a familiar irate twitch to his brow. "It has only begun."

"No. It's finished. You will stop. Do as I say!" Heero reached for him when the familiar flare of anger and defiance flashed across Duo's face. Heero was smiling without realizing he was doing it, softening his expression at the color swirling back into Duo's once opaque orbs. "Come... home with me. You belong with me, Duo as I... to you."

Duo flinched back into his shoulders. Heero looked down at his hand, brows knitting together in understanding when he remembered Jirrad mentioning something about using him as parts.

"It's ok. No tricks. I'm whole..." he wheezed and a cough cut off his attempt at a chuckle, "Well, I'd be whole if I wasn't missing you." He stepped forward cautiously, slowly removing the remaining distance between them. His heavy breaths were becoming more frequent, "It doesn't have to be... this way. There's so much more to these people and between us then the pain, loss and violation we've suffered. Remember... Acai? We'll go... to Acai or-or somewhere away from Maheran and... and m-make a home. No, you are my home. We'll start anew. I'm-"

"Don't! Don't touch me." Duo's voice wobbled, coming out too high then dropping to something flat and emotionless.

The odd shifts in Duo's voice brought Heero back enough to realize he was still talking, but his words had dissolved into mostly nonsensical mumbles and in one hand he held one end of Duo's wide sleeves. Taking in the shuttered distress he saw on Duo's face, he wondered if that was how he looked when he tried to shut everyone out the first time his family took him back from Jirrad. Heero had hoped to keep Duo away from it, but he had been betrayed.

All the emotion that had given life to Duo's face fled as soon as the vacant smile tried to edge its way back across Duo's features. The words that followed were hollow and as cold as Duo's blue tinged lips looked, "No... You are no different. You are afraid. You stink of it."

"I do." Heero suppressed a cough and tried to swallow as pain raked across his chest. He ignored the growing throb in his head and dug his nails into the cut in his hand to make his wandering mind stay present. Blood seeped unnoticed through his fingers from the agitated wound, "I do feel fear, but it is not for me, Duo. It's _for _you."

"I am-"

"Duo. You have always been. You will always be my bonded... Mine. Nothing has ch-changed that... Your element… even… as the One, y-your actions are dictated by what you're feeling. It thrives on whatever you're feeling strongest…" Heero brought up a shaky hand to rub at his temple, the throb there relentless, and frowned when the needle-like sensation began to fade in his left side. He gasped for breath and swallowed back the warm bubble in his throat. He was running out of time and he had to reach Duo before it was too late. "Duo, I accept all of you, as you are. He's – Jirrad's gone. I'd ha-" Heero stopped his stream of words when he saw Duo's bottom lip quivering and his face slowly coloring with emotion. Heero tried to smile, but it turned out to be strained as his eyelids drooped and things became hazy.

"Duo-Duo… I-I … y-yo-" Heero gurgled out, his vision darkening as a metallic flood of warmth filled his throat on his next exhale. It trickled from the corners of his mouth when it gushed onto his tongue. It exploded from his mouth when deep, wet hacking coughs rocked his body. He felt himself sinking, falling away from everything and the only thing that mattered most to him in this life.

_Duo_…

He couldn't even keep the vision of Duo with him; Duo seemed to get smaller and farther away from him. Heero smirked bitterly at himself. He would have laughed, if he had enough breath to do so.

He had failed again.

tbc


	26. Chapter XXVI

Unbeta'd

Warnings: Angst, death, violence, some blood play (nothing sexual, as part of bonding) and vague reference to past NCS and abuse.

Pairings: 1x2/2x1, and the pen dabbles around a bit

AN: Next update will be the end? I can't believe it either; I'm still working on it.

If you come across any misspellings or problems with the flow, let me know I'll go back and work on it. Thank you guys for reading this confusing story of mine, favs and reviewing!

I've hinted at it but realized I never actually explained when it is they are supposed to share blood. Blood bond - a part of their marriage ceremony where the bonded pair, who are of age, takes the blood of their betrothed into themselves. It's usually a small cut on the ring finger and both suck on the others' finger at the same time. They can only have children with their partner and if they need help controlling their powers or need to be suppressed, only their partner or a member of their partner's family can help them. In the beginning, Jirrad and others abused this, forcing their blood on others who were not bonded and killing those they couldn't control.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the sexies in Gundam Wing AC, I just love to see them in different situations, and then sit back and watch the fireworks. *grin*

XXVI

He had failed again.

Unexpectedly, he felt arms around him, holding him and easing him down. The plush grass became withered and the ground became rough and dry beneath him. Then the grass was pushing at him as it re-grew and teased his sensitive ears. Heero forced his heavy, blearily eyes open and found Duo pulling at the straw weaving on a basket. Heero blinked curiously, while pink frothy bubbles came out of one of his nostrils. He was drowning and he didn't understand how. He hadn't been near any water, but the distress of the thought was fading.

Heero blinked slowly on his next cough, the building pressure and dead-weight in his chest had become unbearable. All he wanted to do now was close his eyes, but he didn't want to lose sight of Duo again. So he struggled to keep them open, his lashes fluttering until his vision grayed out. Heero's last glimpse of his bonded was his suddenly emotion filled face and the glint of something in Duo's hand.

Then there was a hard, persistent pressure to his numb side and a sharp, needle-like but fleeting jab of pain and the pressure in his chest became lighter. Muted light broke through the gray clouding his vision, before the gray haze faded away and he could see a blurry profile. Heero heard a strange low, wet popping whistle nearby. He choked, trying to alert the person he realized was Duo about the strange sound, but he couldn't breathe.

"Shh," Heero heard near his ear, the simple sound soothed his mind. Then he felt the straining burn on his right lung ease as cold hands pressed against the skin on the right side of his chest and slowly slid across to his numb left side. Something in his chest shifted along with the movement and the numbness of death was replaced with bright, hot pain.

Heero's head snapped backward, smacking painfully into the ground despite the plush grass beneath him. His screams were garbled and gargled when they burst from his open mouth as unrestrained tears streamed from the corners of his wide eyes. Heero choked and jerked, his eyes seeing nothing as broken bone mended and snapped back into place, careless of the tissue and muscle it tore to correct itself. The pain from the damaged and torn muscles lessened but never faded until there was only one sharp piercing pain in his left side. The needle sharp pain persisted, agitating his lung every time it tried to expand.

Heero jerked when the needle was suddenly yanked out. He tried to curl in on himself to protect his side, but a cold hand quickly covered the wound, soothing away the pain. Heero gasped desperately for breath, and then he felt himself being turned fully on to his left side despite the newly healed bones' and tissues' protests and promises of pain. He jerked up, staying on his left side but resting on his elbow, his side arching away from the ground like it was on fire.

The pain grew when he turned his head to vomit, coughing up more blood and bright pinkish phlegm than the air he was trying to inhale. He continued to heave until all he hocked was thick, clear spit. He took large gasping breaths that filled his lungs until they protested and his chest expanded its full capacity with a teeth grinding soreness.

Heero's lips thinned as he concentrated, resisting the pull of shock and regulating his breathing until finally his heart calmed. He could breathe without having to put thought into controlling it. He blinked glossy, unseeing eyes open and inhaled cautiously. He felt only the strain, soreness and the ache from vomiting as well as the left side of his chest. Heero blinked, his eyes clearing when he met dark eyes a mixture of violet and a blue so dark, it looked nearly black.

"D-D…" when his voice failed him, Heero shakily pushed himself up to a sitting position and buried his hand in Duo's messy hair. The movement was clumsy and rough. He was certain he pulled Duo's hair more than once, but Duo didn't speak or try to remove his hand. Heero watched the swirl of color in the dark orbs and kept moving forward until they were nose to nose. He inhaled his bonded's scent, his lips faintly brushing against Duo's cold, soft and motionless ones.

"D-Duo..." he winced, his throat was so dry and raw it even hurt for him to whisper, but that was all he could do for now. "Duo, stay with me." He touched his lips to Duo's, putting all that he was feeling into the firm but gentle action.

Duo jerked, stiffening beneath his hand. Heero quickly clamped down on the hurt and anger that flared up by Duo's reaction. Neither did he let the pressure in the touch of his lips to Duo's nor the looseness of his fingers in Duo's hair change. That way if Duo wanted to pull away from him, he could. Heero let out a pleased breath when Duo hesitantly pressed back.

Then the next thing Heero felt was his back touching the ground. He gasped at the pain lancing up his left side and welcomed the sweet distraction of Duo brushing his lips tentatively against his own. Heero ran his tongue along chilled lips until Duo opened to him. Their kiss remained gentle as they shared each others breath and let their tongues touch, reintroducing themselves as they slid against each other.

Heero's ears twitched at the half-pained, smothered sob Duo gasped out between them. He didn't know when his eyes had closed on him but when he peered at Duo through his lashes, Duo was staring back at him. Duo had a pale blush flushing his cheeks, the white of his eyes returning to reveal Duo was looking at him cross eyed.

Despite all that had happened, Heero couldn't stop the airy chuckle that left him as his lips curled in a smile. Duo stole that breath, kissing him until Heero found himself struggling to breathe between kisses. Heero moaned into Duo's hot mouth as Duo pressed their bodies together and continued to kiss him fervently. Heero turned his head for a quick breath and Duo turned it back, taking possession of his mouth and making him wince.

Duo had bitten down on his lip and made it bleed, but he didn't release his mouth long for Heero to think anymore of it. Duo sucked on his lip, devouring his mouth with a passion that left him limp beneath him and had his toes curling within his boots. Heero gave himself up to the feeling he had only ever really enjoyed with Duo, and accepted the fire Duo kindled within him.

Duo released his mouth and shook against him, pressing him bodily into the grass covered ground. Heero stared up at Duo, his kissed bruised lips already missing his bonded's lips while confusion crossed his usually stoic face. Heero could feel the raging energy singing throughout Duo's body and trickling into his own without even trying, but he blocked it. Not wanting to do anything that would make Duo distrust him. He met Duo's half closed eyes and saw that the black had returned to Duo's pupils, which were ringed with Duo's usual blue-violet hue.

"Duo." he rasped out in a breathless relief. Heero rubbed his nose against Duo's while he tried to recover, "I-!"

Heero blinked wide eyes at him. Duo had pushed fingers covered in blood into his mouth before he could say anything else. Heero swallowed once reflexively, and then the shock wore off. He started pushing against them with his tongue and jerked back, hitting his head against the ground in confusion, but Duo only pressed them in again. Heero's eyes watered and he gagged when Duo pushed them past his tongue. He tried to move his free hand but Duo caught it, intertwining their fingers and holding it down by his head with ease. Heero pulled on Duo's hair and Duo relented, removing his fingers and kissing his mouth closed in apology.

The blood wasn't his.

Heero didn't want to complete their bond under such circumstances. He thought about asking Duo if he wanted to be tied to him once they got away from Maheran and had healed. He didn't want to rush it or force Duo into anything if he felt differently. Duo would need time, but for him there would be, could be no one else for him except Duo.

They had been children when they chose each other and had swapped blood in their youthful understanding of what the bond meant between their parents and other adults. It was only because they were children that the bond wasn't permanent and it had grown weaker ever since Duo had left him. Heero had thought it was gone, that Duo had left, before he took him into custody at the Gaults. It surprised him by growing stronger the more time they spent together, but Heero knew that without renewing their blood bond, Duo would be free to choose again.

He also knew the person above him wasn't wholly his Duo. He had felt it in their kiss. He wanted, needed to be sure this was what _Duo_ wanted. Heero searched Duo's face for doubt of any kind. He saw none, except for a brief flash of confused hurt. Heero gave him his acceptance by swallowing.

Heero shuddered when the connection between them blew open. He shook as his body went into convulsions under Duo while he was flooded with power, the likes of which he had never experienced before. He felt Duo's breath hitch against his neck and Heero remembered and stopped himself from being lost to flood crashing into him. He unclenched the hand he had unknowingly fisted in Duo's hair. He gritted his teeth, refusing to let the pleasure make him lose sight of what mattered most. He worked at calming and suppressing the turbulent forces that made his chest and Duo's heave and expand painfully against each other.

Duo held onto him, chilled hands running over his feverish skin and squeezing him close every time Heero bucked against him. But there was still more, so much more than he could have imagined one person capable of wielding.

It was too much. He couldn't take more into himself. He couldn't calm it all or suppress the power inside Duo without killing him.

Unconsciously, Heero dug his fingers into the ground and held onto Duo when the ground trembled beneath them. He squinted out the corner of his eye and saw the grass and soil wobble like the surface of water. He felt so full that he could only think of releasing it. He felt the pull from beneath his fingers, and he let it go. The ground rippled and shook, throwing people off their feet as a pale wave of light followed. Heero kept channeling it, sweat poured off of him as it flowed out of Duo and into him.

Quiet descended in the wake of another pulse of light. It left them in a rolling, circular wave that made them the center.

The quiet stretched and Heero took several shaky breaths and swallowed gingerly, his throat was still tender and sore. He stared up at the sky where the clouds had lost their lumpy lobe shapes, smoothing out to the placid grays of a stormy day. The twirling funnel of clouds that had been descending above them drifted apart and the dark sky was replaced with the dull light from the stars of early night, before the surrounding clouds hid them away.

Duo struggled to lift his head, the move sending a tremor through both their bodies and Heero gritted his teeth as pain flared across his chest. Heero glimpsed regret flicker across Duo's face before his violet eyes closed and Duo's head thumped against his shoulder. Heero kept staring blankly at the sky where Duo's head had been. He reached out across their connection, checking on the power that had raged inside of Duo. After feeling a calm hum from it, he closed himself off with a heavy breath.

They lie there for a long moment. Heero was too tired to do anything other than feel the counter rhythm of Duo breathing against him. His vision blurred and he blinked rapidly at the slight numbing sensations running over the surface of his eyes with a frown.

Soon, the sound of rain replaced the murmur of the people around them and curls of smoke – steam he realized - rose from the ground. In some places he could hear the hiss where the rain came in contact with the ground. Heero peered at the sky through the minuscule shield of his fingers and through the falling rain as the raindrops grew fatter and heavier. He opened his mouth to let the cool drops sooth his throat. The gray clouds overhead grew darker and night chased the last faded remnants of day toward the horizon. The rumble of thunder had him closing his eyes and tightening his arm around Duo when he felt the rumble reverberate within his sore chest and through the ground.

Heero opened his eyes, remembering where they were and what was happening around them. He tensed, his body quivering from the sheer stress of everything that had happen to him, to them and scrutinized everybody near them. He stopped his hand from reaching for a weapon he didn't have and stared on in pleased surprise when the soldiers started working with the townsfolk, as well as Quatre's people, to pull the smoldering pyres a part.

Minutes later, the rain came down in heavy sheets. Heero pushed himself up on one elbow, coughing and pushing his hair out of his face. He struggled to sit up, refusing to lose contact with Duo. He watched them as they pulled off a large chunk of mud and looked away at the despair on their faces.

"They're alive!" Heero's eyes shot back to the pyre, where the dirt covered face they uncovered was washed clean when the woman tilted her head up to the sky.

He glanced around watching as other people emerged from the water soaked mounds, breaking off large chunks of earth to free themselves. The misery filled cries changed to sobs of relief and Heero was brought back to Duo, who made a pained sound against his chest.

"Du-?" Heero winced, throat closing up on him from the lingering pain. He rubbed Duo's back to try and get his attention. Heero's brows bunched together as his hand came across a warm wet spot low on Duo's back, yet the rest of Duo was cold from the rain. His fingers rubbed at the wet warmth. The thicker consistency prompted him to raise his hand to get a better look and he couldn't take his eyes away from it. The rain obstructed his vision, but the blood from Duo's back clung to his hand, leaving a pinkish stain the rain couldn't completely wash away. Heero's back grew rigid when Duo felt heavier against him.

He was deaf to Relena and Wu Fei's water logged steps, even though he saw them approaching. His gaze shifted from his hand as he levered himself up to a sitting position with his arm shaking from the strain to support him. He stared down at the red stain seeping through Duo's clothes and started pressing down on the wound with shaking hands. He searched frantically for their attacker, but there was no one close enough to have inflicted such a wound on Duo without him noticing, without the blade cutting through him as well. He pressed down harder, trying to staunch its flow.

"Heero, can you believe this!" there was relieved laughter in Relena's voice, "They stopped fighting! Everyone is helping each other and it's raining!"

Heero willed the healing ability Duo had used on him to work and his hand began to glow a faint blue before fading away. Heero scooted from under Duo, hesitant to stop applying pressure to the wound but having no choice but to do so if he didn't want to drop Duo on the ground. He kept himself focused or else exhaustion and shock would pull him under. He shifted Duo gently to the sodden ground, pressing his fingers to the clammy skin of Duo's neck to check for his pulse and quickly reapplied pressure to the wound.

He trailed bloody fingers over one sallow cheek and then turned Duo's head to the side, shielding his nose from rain with one hand. His ears twitched and the hand that had been applying pressure to Duo's wound, snapped out to grab Relena when she was in reaching distance. He yanked both her and her living crutch down to them.

"Ow!" she glared in angry confusion, then her eyes filled with concern at the stricken look on Heero's face. She touched the trembling hand on her arm and Heero's hand slid away, leaving a bloody trail down her forearm to her wrist.

"Hee-?" she stopped, realizing immediately that Duo wasn't moving in front of them. "Duo? What-?"

"Heal him, Relena." but he didn't need to prompt her. Relena had already pulled away from Wu Fei, the bloody hand print on her wrist was being washed away as the downpour grew heavier.

Heero's breath hitched, the feeling in his chest that always comforted him and told him Duo was near was fading. It left a growing icy pit in its place with none of Duo's warmth or his element. He was dying. "Relena-"

Relena gasped and shook her head, pulling back slightly with shaking hands. Heero glared at her while she clenched and unclenched them, trying to collect herself. She reached to her side for her nonexistent medicine bag and Heero grabbed her hand, making her wince.

"I know he's in pain. Just-!" Heero rasped and eased his grip, bringing her hand back over the wound.

She shook her head, a pale blue light returned, lining her hand. Heero released her hand, when he saw the light try to inch up his arm. "It's more than that Heero."

But her words fell on deaf ears. He couldn't feel Duo's breath against his hand anymore.

"Relena!" Heero snapped, his eyes were fierce and his nose flared as he stared down at Duo.

"I know!" He heard her taking a steadying breath. "I know. Breathe for him. His heart is still beating." He heard her say in a consoling manner that did nothing for him. Heero leaned over him, pinching Duo's nose closed with an unsteady hand and breathed for him. He let Duo's chest fall before repeating the action.

Relena sucked in water on her next breath and coughed. He could feel her eyes on him, but he stayed where he was, his head directly over Duo's, shielding Duo's face from the downpour with his own. He saw her dig the fingers of one hand into the ground, the pale healing light coming from her other hand darkened over Duo's wound before she jerked in place.

She glanced around with a shudder, and knew she must be noticing for the first time that there were no bodies to be seen. Heero knew she had seen people cut down, and the way she looked at the ground, it seemed like she expected it to be drenched in red and not covered with plush green grass. Her eyes fluttered shut and she eased her fingers from the ground. Heero could see the white of bones through the soil she had displaced and unknowingly pulled closer to the surface. He couldn't feel anything for her at the moment. Relena then tried for the soil by Duo's leg and stopped abruptly, a frown curling her lips as she fought back a queasy look on her face. There were had to be bones everywhere.

Heero couldn't spare the breath to grow at her for slowing herself down and wasting time Duo didn't have by trying to find a bone-free spot. He was tempted to grab her hand again, but she squeezed her eyes shut while pushing her fingers forward again. Her arm jerked in place as she resisted the urge the draw her hand back again. Heero felt the ground shift beneath them, and the bones she had pulled to the surface were no more.

"H-how..." she cleared her dry throat and tried again, "How long has he been like this? Since you suppressed him?"

"Not long." Heero chuckled to himself, but there was no humor in it. It took an almost panicked sound when he rushed down to breath for Duo again, angry at himself for lapsing. He stayed hunched over Duo, keeping the breaths continuous and breaking up what he was trying to say. "He-he's stronger… than anyone imagined… I was dying, Relena... He resisted the emotions… driving him and the elements... a-and… saved me. Saved all of us."

Relena raised stunned eyes to him and Heero refused to acknowledge her. His eyes were fixed on Duo. He watched the rain run over his pasty skin. He tried not to notice the veins in Duo's face grow darker and focused instead on how Duo's hair became wavy silk in the water on the ground.

"He helped me stop himself." Heero muttered with a bitter smile, brushing sodden bangs from over Duo's closed eyes.

"He couldn't have done it without you, Heero."

Heero stiffened at Wu Fei's words as he breathed for Duo. He was surprised at the depth of feeling, admiration and honesty he heard from him. He frowned, glancing at the shape shifter. Before he could think of any else, Duo gasped. His breathing came in labored and low while mottled bruises began to appear. They stood out starkly against his pale skin. They decorated Duo's neck where his hair had easily kept them hidden and trails that led under his clothes, starting at the back of his right shoulder.

"Heero?" the airy, shocked quality of Relena's voice drew him away from the struggling rise and fall of Duo's chest. "He-he…"

Heero turned his frown on her, watching her hand shakily glide from one of Duo's hips to the other and then up his torso.

"Relena, easy now," Relena ignored Wu Fei as he moved over to support her weight when she started to droop and turned to Heero.

"He had a child."

Heero's stared at her for a long moment, his frown frozen in place neither changing into something more severe nor giving way to the shock he felt to his core. He swallowed, having already known that Duo hadn't gotten away unscathed, but this... he wasn't prepared for.

He turned away from Relena, squeezing his eyes shut and forcing himself to breathe evenly. For awhile he couldn't hear past the ringing in his ears. He slumped forward, holding himself up with the bloody hand gripping his bent knee. The rainfall began to lighten when he managed to straighten his back again. He focused on Duo's breathing and tried not to think of how many times he had almost lost him. He noticed that as each breath Duo took became less of struggle, the rain eased a little bit more.

"Is there any way of knowing…?" He couldn't bring himself to finish that question, his throat closed up on him painfully. Although, he knew there was a good chance the child had survived, especially since Duo had.

Relena shook her head, freeing her fingers from the soil to let that hand join the other coasting over Duo's body. "Heero... The damage left him barren. I'm sorry."

Heero caught the repetitive movement of her head out the corner of his eye and took hold of Duo's hand. Unable to say anything else while his mind worked. He vaguely recalled a faint new smell masked by the soap in the room. But there hadn't been any signs of a child in Jirrad's rooms and Trowa hadn't mentioned seeing one either. He only wished Jirrad was alive so he could get the answer out of him then kill him again.


	27. Chapter XXVIIEpilogue

Warnings: Suicidal thoughts, Depression, Angst, view point shifts  
Pairings: 1x2/2x1, and the pen dabbles around a bit

Unbeta'd  
Italics ~ thoughts

Thank you guys for reading ^_^ Input/feedback is much appreciated

AN: I want to give sharona1x2, maerjanthra (Efrite) a huge thank you for getting hit with all of this first. I want to thank everyone who has sent me their reviews/comments and those lurkers too for dealing with me and jungle that is my mind full of ideas and my inability to express them clearly. You're all beautiful. The next story I write, will be 95% done before I post it. Wow, then end... So, I'm zipping these lips. Good morning/evening/night!

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Disclaimer: I don't own any of the sexies in Gundam Wing AC, I just love to help them live a little.  
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XXVII/Epilogue

In the days that followed, the people of Maheran were on the move. Many wanting to escape the deaths, were lured by the promise of a better life outside the city, when before there had been few options and survival bleak in the sea of sand. Some went about their everyday lives in hopes of coping with their losses. While others hovered, flinching at the sight of soldiers even though they no longer posed any threat to them.

The Monarch didn't swoop in to retaliate against Quatre's people while they attempted to recover in Maheran and were too stunned to make a hasty retreat or really defend themselves. Instead, the old Monarch amazed them by welcoming them. The Monarch took up council from one of the high priest's monks and Relena. Quatre, when he regained consciousness, requested an audience and was quickly answered.

The Monarch made known his wishes to put an end to the suffering. He explained how his illness kept him away from his people and allowed himself to be used to intimidate, bending the wills of others. In the face of dissent amongst the people, Relena interrupted to vouch for him. She told them about the few walks he had gone on with her outside the walls of the temple-palace. Quatre raised a hand to quiet the elders from his city in attendance.

Once they were willing to listen, the Monarch moved on to explain how he had been depending heavily on Jirrad. He told them how he was one of his most trusted servants and his dearest friend. Without an heir, he had planned to leave it all to Jirrad.

He told them that on the day the palace-temple shook, he woke to the strange pale light fading from his room and he found himself able to move. The cloying sickness rapidly lost its hold over him. He, aided by a ginger haired priest while half dressed in a robe, surveyed the destruction brought on by the One and came to realize how he had been deceived. Jirrad had used Relena, her acolytes and the growing beauty of Maheran to fool the bedridden Monarch. He had been convinced Jirrad was not only carrying out his wishes, but shared them.

The Monarch apologized with the promise to be a better ruler, work more closely with the people and thanked the One for returning the world to how he remembered as a youth.

The Monarch, a high priest from the Order and Quatre began to work together to organize the scores of people who began new settlements. The fever to get out of the overpopulated Maheran was only spurred on with the announcement that The One had passed. The Monarch had suggested that Relena retake her position as the One, and the people whole heartedly agreed. Especially since the One's disappearance, but she turned it down. Relena didn't want to be worshiped.

Instead, Relena arranged small groups each with an acolyte, priest, eunuch and a few recovered soldiers, handpicked by Quatre, to Sheriff each settlement and establish schools for any who wished to be taught. The rest of the acolytes were released from their service to live normal lives. Many returned to their families in the city and with Quatre's people. The few that chose to stay at Relena's side became goodwill ambassadors, like Relena herself. Partnered with some of the Order priests, they soothed any tensions or disputes amongst the people and reminded them of what greed, hate and violence had wrought and cost them all.

O-OoO-O

They had moved around many times. He could tell by the smell of the air, temperature and feel of the place. None of them had felt right. No matter where they journeyed, whispers followed and people sought him out. He didn't know why they moved so much or how many more times they had, before the people's curiosity curbed. They stopped trying to see and touch him.

With it, the whispers waned.

_The One is dead... _he sometimes heard the broken phrase. The sound was remorseful but it stirred nothing in him. The place they were now felt good and they were close to... He couldn't put a finger on what exactly. All he knew was what he felt and that they had to stay near it.

He began to crave these moments where he was aware but not awake or able to move. The first few times he woke since they settled in this new place, he was complacent, but it eventually gave way to fear. And every time he woke up trapped in his own body, the fear grew into a sickening dread. It filled his head with doubt that his escape had ever happened.

Really it made sense, because it explained why he was stuck like this. It left him on edge knowing that at any moment the old man would come and abuse him. But it didn't happen. Nothing happened and gradually he began to notice the familiar presence by his side.

Heero.

The connection between them warmed him and told him he wasn't alone. Heero's presence reminded him of who he was when dreams and memory meshed. His Heero, who could disable anyone with his skilled hands, helped him stay a little longer each time through massages and the movement of his limbs. His bonded's touch chased away the unwanted phantoms that clawed at his skin and made him retreat into the white of forgetfulness.

Imprisoned in his body, he came to know how much he loved this man. He wished he could share with him this realization.

He loved him even more because despite Heero not being a talker, he did whenever they were alone together. Duo still remembered when he started. There had been a few hushed words of encouragement and then the soft click of a door closing as Heero fumbled with things to say the only way his stoic lover would. Duo heard him shift slightly in his chair, a faint noise of aborted starts and then silence.

Once the words started, they were short and concise. Nevertheless, Heero kept at it until he was able to share his thoughts and feelings, even the mundane ones. He talked about what he did or saw when he was away. There were others, people Duo knew, yet couldn't always put a name to the face that surfaced in his clouded mind when they weren't in the room. The first had been the healer. That day, Heero had been coerced into leaving his side by an older woman and two younger women.

Duo had felt a flare of anxiety, hopelessness and fear so strong that it nearly robbed him of his awareness. They were his own emotions, riding on the tails of memories that he wanted desperately to forget. He almost let go when the healer took his hand. They trembled holding his while he talked and wept. The feelings slowly subsided as the healer's relieved, and tender weary presence tried to reassure him without words.

The healer had asked him to forgive him. Those were the words that stuck in his mind, for he couldn't remember the boy doing him any harm. Most of what happened afterward, like the other moments soon to come, faded to gray.

He couldn't remember if the healer ever returned, but everyone else remained a constant. They switched off with Heero so he felt someone different, yet familiar every other moment when Heero wasn't there. Those times were short and in turn, didn't bother him much because Heero always came back. Their connection affirmed him that much. The sound of Heero's voice soothed him when the dark memories were at their worst and refused to relinquish their hold on him.

This was what their lives persisted of - he was trapped in this unwaking, unchanging limbo-like awareness and Heero refused to leave his side except for when their friends made him leave. Duo's heart ached at the thought of them continuing on this way.

"... wasting away like this. Stop doing this to yourself! I'm sure Duo would never want you to do this. Let one of us or at the very least a healer-"

"No."

Lately, each of his 'waking' moments seemed off.

"By the One-"

Someone scoffed.

"Heero, you know what I mean. Gods, he's _healed_! There's no need for you not to attend to yourself with us here helping you... You-" Duo heard Quatre sigh, "I know it is difficult not to worry, none us know what to do to wake him up."

"That's comforting."

"Heero. We are safe here. We're together and he's stable. He's not going any where."

"You can't guarantee that nothing will happen and don't think you can trick me into believing otherwise."

He didn't remember trying to go anywhere, at least not by choice. At times, he would find himself aware of everything in the room but not being able to think or remember much. Other times, he could hear, feel and interpret everything his senses grasped. Today seemed to be one of the latter days. Duo could tell there were two others in the room with Heero and him. It felt like they had been there for a long while.

"Hee-"

"No! I don't want to hear anymore of your empty reassurances, Quatre. I have to be here. I can't - I won't miss-"

"Give it time." Quatre cut in, his voice tempered and coaxing.

"Time?" Heero scoffed, "Leave." Heero's voice had grown haggard in a space of few breaths. Duo heard a suppressed laugh come out as a grunt, and then he felt the air shift in the room when Heero moved away from Quatre. "I said go!"

It hurt to hear Heero sound so bitter and defeated. It echoed to a time before him, a memory that wasn't his own, but it slipped from his grasp like sand. It was so similar yet not. Duo wanted to let them know, let _Heero_ know, he was there and that he could hear them. Unfortunately, no matter how much he willed his body to move, it wouldn't obey him.

"No, Heero. We are your friends. Don't expect us not to push back when you push us. We can't just stand by and let you do this to yourself."

"It's my choice."

"Be reasonable."

"I have! I will _not_ let him disappear before my eyes!" Duo felt the bed shift on one side and then a familiar warmth, tingle across his skin as fingers carded through his bangs. "I'll d- I'm taking him to the mountains."

"Heero," there was a resigned sigh, as if this was something they had discussed many times before. Duo didn't remember hearing the airy breath this often from his friend before this moment. "Are you feverish? There's nothing _there_. We've gone-"

"Without me or Duo."

"Not intentionally. Even though Relena helped the people move on, there's still something of them lingering there. I'm sure... I've _felt_ them."

Heero snorted, "Yes, _you_'ve felt them."

"Don't forget how you found Duo when you caught up to us. Duo felt them too."

"Why didn't you take us with you?"

"Neither one of you were fit for travel after the journey here. Besides, what good would come from taking both of you to Abbadon?"

Duo heard feet shift, but Heero didn't respond.

"You don't know do you?" Duo could hear Quatre frowning, thinking.

"I know enough to trust my senses."

"If you feel that some sort of action is needed and waiting here is useless, know that-"

"Don't read me without my consent!" Heero bit out harshly and Duo could imagine the icy glare Quatre was being gifted with, but he also knew Quatre wasn't one easily cowed.

"I don't need to _read_ you to understand how you must be feeling nor to see what's in front of me... in your eyes. Why there, Heero?"

Heero didn't oblige him with an answer, but somehow he knew like Duo did, the mountains had been the beginning.

"Can you feel him?"

"Trowa?" if he could, Duo would have smirked at the semi-pissed, shocked, and plaintive quality Quatre's voice took on all at once. "How will that help Heero?"

Duo had forgotten about Quatre's ability to read people that way and it made him anxious.

"Tell me." Heero demanded. His tone devoid of emotion as Duo felt the rough pad of Heero's thumb run over his cheek.

There was a long pause. Duo almost let himself be lulled into the sleepy gray and let go of his hold on the moment with Heero's warmth nearby.

"No, not exactly." Quatre said somberly on his next exhaled breath.

Duo didn't know how Quatre could load so much pain and sorrow into those few words, but he felt it. He was sure the other two could too.

"He feels you."

"Duo?"

It tore at him to hear Heero sound so broken. He would have given anything to open his eyes and see… touch, croak out anything to him.

"Heero-" He heard Quatre gasp at the same time he felt a light pressure to his mouth

"Don't stop there!" Heero snapped, shaking fingers touched his brow before he felt Heero's forehead touch his. The heat from his skin shocked him. "Tell me more!"

"He... there's concern, longing, anxiousness, sa- s-sorry, he- it's fading… There is nothing more I can tell you."

"No, no. Don't you lie to me!" Heero was gone. Duo figured he must have turned away from him to glare at Quatre and he was bereft of the contact. He wanted him close again.

"I'm not lying! He's there just... buried. It's so hard to feel him. You don't understand what it does to me to see… _feel_ you both-"

"I don't care! Continue. Tell me-"

"I can't! I-"

"You. Will. Or-"

"He won't." Trowa cut in smoothly. "He's with you. That's more than enough for now."

"You don't understand. None of you do."

"Then tell us your thoughts. You don't have bear it alone, Heero. Help us understand." Quatre's voice was urgent, though he spoke so softly that Duo almost didn't hear him.

Heero answered Quatre with silence.

"He _is_ there, Heero. Even if you can't feel him, rest assured he's there." Quatre sounded drained, but his words stilled the idle play of Heero's fingers in his hair.

"Quatre," there was emphasis on his friend's name, along with a hint of reproach to both them. Trowa's tone promised that he wouldn't let this continue, "He has told you all he can."

Heero grunt in dissent.

"You have all the more reason to do this not because we're asking you to, but for yourself and Duo. Eat properly, train and regain your strength so you can take him there. You have a week or we'll take him ourselves... and leave you'll ride tied to Relena's saddle to keep her company."

Heero growled. Duo felt a fine tremble in the fingers resting against his cheek, "I'm fine." Irritation was clear in his words. Duo's concern grew as he wondered what they meant and what he couldn't see.

"A week, Heero." Duo could almost see Quatre shaking his head, "I would've tried for more time than that, but I trust Trowa's judgment. I have to admit, you'd probably do something foolish if you had to wait any longer than that."

Heero snorted.

"You still may." Duo heard Quatre chuckle, "We are in agreement?" They both knew that getting Heero to agree to anything that wasn't his idea in the first place wouldn't be that easy. "Just let us support you and help. All we ask, that whatever it is you intend to do, you wait a week until you're stronger."

Heero said nothing else. Duo felt the weight of Heero's body shift on the bed, then the brush of his spiky bangs against his neck. The door closed with Heero interlacing their fingers as he held their hands together over Duo's chest. Duo wished he could snuggle into the heat that was Heero, but a tendril of unease reminded Duo of his earlier concerns. With Heero this close, he could smell the sweat of sickness on his bonded and knew he was right to be worried.

Duo found the sleepy gray interrupted by brief flashes of images, but it was getting harder for him to differentiate dreams from memory and the reality he lived. Not when he could see and move in the dreams while in reality he was confined to a bed in a place he had never seen before. A few of the images were of Heero with a beard and then his face was hairless, and thin. There was hurried movement, a room with windows and flowers. He could smell the flowers mixing in the warm air and then the indistinct voices of people. Their voices grew as they rejoiced, before it too faded.

He couldn't recall the last time he had heard that many happy people in one place. But it was strange that he heard them at all, if he was in their room.

"It's time," were the only words he heard from Heero, before they were moving. On quick, silent feet Heero moved him and all Duo could do was listen to his breathing and the common sounds he began to associate with nightfall. A low trill was Duo's only warning when soft, ridged-skin nose pressed against his face and filled his nose with briny breath.

"Easy. You snuck away too, huh?" Heero coughed, muffling the sound before continuing, "I'm sure he misses you too, Newt"

"Follow Krídlo." Duo could hear the smile and tenderness in Heero's whisper.

Vertigo hit him when Heero hoisted him up across the harness. He felt Heero secure his legs in the footholds, before he hopped up behind him. Swiftly, Heero repositioned him in his arms before Krídlo took off in a silent run. The heady rush into motion made Duo realize how overly warm he had been and the bouncing movement stirred a nervous tickle in his stomach as the dizziness began to overwhelm him. They were getting closer, and the nausea grew with that feeling the longer they rode. Duo's throat felt tacky and he heard someone make a startled sound just before all movement stopped.

O-OoO-O

Heero jerked upright, and then pressed back down over Duo, when he started to list to the side of the harness. He had been using his upper body to lessen the jostling motion of Krídlo's movements on Duo and keep him more securely in place. Heero pulled Krídlo to a skidding stop, like he should have did the first time before he sat upright. He patted Krídlo's neck, soothing her absently. He turned Duo toward him and pulled Duo's hood back enough to get a good look at his face. There had been no change in his expression.

Heero shook his head and looked out over the moonlit landscape. They had come to the fringe of the Loop, where sparse grass and spindly branched trees thinned into desert.

Their small, growing town of several hundred inhabitants was positioned between Maheran and the mountains, a three to four day journey by horse in either direction. It quickly became known as Maheran Loop, because it was the best place for a rest stop in an area that was mainly deserted. It had definitely helped their town flourish.

Quatre's city remained submerged and secret. Quatre and his people established an auxiliary village in a nearby oasis on the surface. It was called Qadira, which he had been told was the name the Acai had given Quatre's mother. Relena told him that it meant powerful and that Quatre had been named after his mother, her real name being Quatrine.

He had never wanted to know so little about a person than in those moments, but if Relena was talking about Quatre, then she wasn't bothering him.

Qadira, it turned out, became a place where those who wanted to live above ground could. To public knowledge, it was Quatre's place of origin and the wind wielder's primary place of residence. In that respect, Heero felt he and Quatre were like minded in their decisions to live in Qadira and the Loop - there couldn't be a more perfect place to hide than in plain sight.

At the Loop, there would be no questions when Relena or Hilde visited during their travels or even stayed. Quatre had made it his second home with Trowa. The Loop, like so many other places, had been restored by Duo. The Monarch had said, on one of his many visits as his health continued to improve, the Loop was as it had been. He implied that before it used to be just as lush. It transitioned into sparse desert on its fringes, but it was large enough to house fifty more towns their size. When asked what the area had been called in the past and who had lived there, the Monarch waved off the questions politely. He called it M'loop, as the children often did, and smiled at the carefree laughter that followed.

Heero didn't bother guessing what the old ruler knew. He knew Jirrad had a hand in whatever lives were lost here. Pushing it, while keeping both Gua low so they could run and glide undetected, Heero managed to get them to the fringes in a mere hour instead of the four hours it would've taken to get there by horse.

_Glide_. Krídlo's and Newt's near achievement of flight had him thinking. It had to be late spring, because Fraix had told him once the Gua only obtained the extra skin on their sides during their mating season. During that time no one, not even Jirrad, rode or disturbed the Gua.

Yet, they were allowing him and Duo. Rarity of the experience wasn't lost on him and his thoughts centered on the man he held in his arms. He wished Duo could share it with him. He stiffened as the low sound reached his ears again.

"Duo?" Heero sat back haphazardly in his harness, while his legs gripped Krídlo's sides firmly to stabilize his sudden movement. Krídlo jerked, irritated by how the extra pressure agitated the folds of skin along her ribs and underarms.

"Duo…" with a shaky hand, Heero brushed Duo's bangs from his closed eyes.

He knew he had heard Duo make a sound. He was sure of it. He ignored Newt's low trill of concern and stared at Duo, his thumb running over his chin and down his throat searching for movement. He heard the low grumble and turned Duo so that he was laying chest down on Krídlo's neck. He put his ear to Duo's back and waited.

For a moment, he lost himself to the sound of Duo's heart beat and had to struggle to keep his eyes open. Heero was about to lift his head, when he heard it again and choked on his own laughter, "Your stomach talks, but not you."

Heero turned his face into Duo's shoulder and screamed out all he was feeling. He should have known better than to hope for something so soon. Duo's bodily responses were all the reaction any of them got from sleeping wielder. Duo chewed and swallowed when he was fed. He marginally supported himself, but listed to the side after awhile like any other person who was made to sit up while asleep.

Heero griped the cloak at Duo's sides and slid his face up through the material until his forehead rested against the side of Duo's temple. He squeezed his eyes shut while he pressed his nose to Duo's cheek and gritted his teeth before could betray himself further. Although there was only the Gua and an unaware Duo to witness him fall apart, he just couldn't. Heero unclenched his hands to rub Duo's stomach and then pressed and held a kiss to Duo's cheek. He had to make this enough and refused to acknowledge the heat building in his eyelids.

"N-not… yet." he fixed Duo's hood, and wrapped his arms around him to let the shaking in his hands, that quickly became shudders rocking his whole body, run their course.

He felt hollow inside.

It only grew worst, each day he pushed himself to honor their friends' request. He made himself sleep for more than a few hours and wrenched himself awake when sleep threatened to imprison him. He had felt it many times before and believed if he slept too long, he would be trapped like Duo in an unnatural sleep. He wouldn't care if it meant he would be with Duo, but his dreams of late have always teetered off into darkness and made the hollow place in his chest grow. He refused to let the emptiness over take him.

Although the others were starting to notice the shadows under his eyes, they didn't know how little he actually slept. Quatre somehow knew his connection with Duo was gone. That realization shocked him enough to take what the annoying blonde wielder had said to heart. He was too weak and in no condition to get them to the mountains. He vowed he would not fail Duo in this.

They both had to be there and it had to be just the two of them for a little while. He couldn't explain it or his impatience, but he had no reservations about making it happen. Heero didn't feel like explaining it to the others either. Their friends had called his behavior irrational, but it was just his way of avoiding them when they pushed too much for answers he couldn't give them.

Strangely enough, Zechs understood without him having to say anything. In their town, Zechs served as a teacher and advisor to the towns' constable. The latter, was a position Quatre tried to haggle him into, but he wanted no part of it.

Heero spent most of his time glaring when Zechs waddled confidently into their home, but he found his presence was preferable to the others. A few months after the twins were born Zechs would come and talk to him. More like at him. He never answered him - much, but for a long while Zechs' eyes were those of a haunted man.

He knew part of it was because Quatre's search for Treize revealed nothing of his whereabouts. It was the same for him while Wu Fei carried out his secret task. Heero wanted to help Wu Fei search for Duo's child but he couldn't bring himself to be far from Duo's side. It was the not knowing that ate at them both and he appreciated how Zechs dropped his masks around him. Their understanding remained unspoken, even as they both suffered through Relena's frequent visits while in the company of one of the Order's eunuchs, Montague.

Not soon after those visits, he watched Zechs' disposition change. Zechs drifted away from him. He often seemed conflicted and Heero cursed him for making him feel even more alone. Even though Zechs' visits lessened, Zechs made sure Heero held one of the twins or played with the crawling trouble makers. They adored him, or so he was told, and they squeezed out of him a tiny smile or two without knowing the hurt or longing they brought up in him.

The few times his Aunt Bertha, Hilde's mother and his late Uncle's wife, had chanced a visit, he had largely ignored her. He barely offered her a grunt of thanks when she would go out of her way to cook for them. He hadn't asked her to do anything, but she kept sending him these beseeching looks. He felt guilty around her and faulted himself for the loss of her husband.

He could no more stand to be around her than he could her daughter, but he had learned to tolerate Hilde's presence in their home. She wouldn't leave them alone and after awhile, she just sort of became Duo's main caretaker, second to himself. The girl's behavior was similar to his bonded. So much so that Heero had to leave Duo with her on several occasions because he couldn't stand the reminder of how Duo had been compared to how was now.

Then there were the whispers. He was sure they weren't real and chalked them up to his lack of sleep. He refused to open himself up to the same madness that had consumed many of the captive, grieving wielders that haunted his memories. Zechs, it seemed, was different; whatever Duo had done to stabilize him and the twins, worked now to keep him together if Treize was dead. He was glad Jirrad had never gotten to Zechs the way he had the other wielders he had imprisoned. But Heero wasn't foolish enough to think that Jirrad wasn't the one responsible for Zechs' disappearance.

All he knew was that after Zechs was captured, he was forced to take the tour training and into servitude as a soldier of the Monarch under Treize. He quickly surpassed others and became Treize's second. And not once during those seven years did Heero see him near Relena or notice him make an attempt to contact her, even in passing. Until something went wrong on a mission and he was gravely injured. He and Relena had stumbled upon them on their return and against Zechs' wishes, Relena healed him. Shortly after that, Zechs disappeared and Treize had been second-less ever since then.

Heero had witnessed much of what Jirrad did to his captives firsthand and he didn't think Zechs escaped without some problems of his own. Though, he was grateful he hadn't been broken by what he had endured and didn't lose himself to the torment. He remembered how bad it got for them, the wielders especially, once Jirrad isolated them in the cells beneath the foyer. Their cries of agony went unheard as the people above them walked through the foyer daily. Only a select few knew the extent of Jirrad's depravity.

The specialized stone, which made up the foyer cells, not only blocked sound but dampened a wielder's ability to wield and stopped shifters, like Heero, from seeing past it. Thus, the stone effectively removed their main means of escape. He knew its creator never meant for it to be used against them in such a way. A few, in their grief, expended themselves by continuously using their element and straining to call to it. He remembered the pain of just using his sight in the cells and how much the brief effort had drained him. He could see that without their bonded, how it would quickly lead to many painful deaths.

Jirrad had been quick to stop the others from attempting the same feet by having Senjit sedate them. Those who fought off the sedatives, Jirrad made them his special guinea pigs. He fed stronger drugs, some made up of crushed lichen spores, while he watched the effects they had on them, on some the shifters, and on him. Thinking back to the times Jirrad had locked him away with several of wielders, he found he couldn't resent them for using him as they had.

Despite the head games Jirrad played with him, Heero never forgot who his real enemy was. When he was returned to his uncle and healed enough to move effectively, he smuggled whomever he could out of Maheran. He vowed to make sure they were avenged. He never knew what happened to them beyond Maheran's borders, but a death out in the desert was better than one by Jirrad's hands.

He had often wondered if a wielder's bonded was affected similarly, if the roles were reversed and the wielder was the one who died. If they had been left alive, would they have gone crazy from the emptiness of not feeling their other? Even still, he wondered how they would fair if they had to feel their bonded grow weaker over their connection and then suddenly cut off from the only thing that reassured them they were still alive? How could they go on?

He no longer doubted that bonded pairs shared the same torment. He, himself, felt it every day Duo lay in his unnatural sleep. There were times, like a few moments ago, that he thought he felt Duo… He thought he had heard him, but that false hope had nearly caved him.

It was maddening, being able to feel, hold and smell Duo while their bond kept telling him he was gone. He was dead; that there was nothing of Duo left in the body… shell of the man he held.

The feel of Duo's presence across their connection was the thing he trusted most. He had depended on it during their years of separation and that heartening presence had gradually faded until six months ago.

Six months ago, Hilde had come to visit and care for Duo like any other time. It was an arrangement he _shared_ with their friends once they had settled down in the Loop. He used the term 'shared arrangement' loosely, because they simply took advantage of his aversion to Hilde and she came over more than he felt was necessary to help them.

Forced from Duo's side, Heero went to help their growing town under threat of being summarily dragged away from Duo and restrained to watch children at story time in the center of town if he hadn't. They knew that if they upset him enough, he would lash out at them, but he wouldn't harm defenseless people – particularly children. It was smart on their part.

Even as he helped the townsfolk, Heero took comfort in feeling Duo through their connection despite the capable person, who cared for Duo. Unfortunately, that day wouldn't be like the others. After leaving Hilde with Duo that day, Heero went to help a young farmer plow a field he was having difficulty completing alone. He remembered waving the farmer off to get some seeds when Duo was suddenly gone. Their connection was still there, but the feeling that always told Heero Duo was there had disappeared completely and could mean only one thing.

Dazed, he led the oxen into a grassy field. Once the farmer noticed his wayward movement and caught up to him, he remembered having only one destination in mind. He left the man with his concerned questions unanswered. He found himself bursting into the place he had made his and Duo's and nearly ripped the door from its hinges. He saw Hilde turn from her bent position over Duo, saying something he couldn't hear. He had to admit, he wasn't thinking clearly. He barely recalled questioning her with accusation in his voice. Yet, at some point, he threw her aside.

Later, she filled in on the details. She boasted about her reflexes, told him he had nearly sent her through the wall, but all he could recall was that he wanted to get to Duo. He couldn't calm down or ease the intense feeling of loss tearing him up inside until he saw him. When he had, doubt warred with loss and the growing emptiness in his chest. Duo looked the same as he had left him, with the exception of his skin smelling of soap and his hair half braided, but alive and breathing.

Heero drew back from Duo and the fragmented memory. He nosed Duo's bangs as he clutched his own chest with his free hand. The feeling echoed still, sharp and deep, hacking away at his ability to reason and telling him what he held was nothing. Heero shuddered and his eyes drooped even though his head ached to the beat of his heart.

Today, Relena was due to visit so no one would notice his absence until well into the morning. Their growing town had mainly horses. On a whim, he had sent a letter to Bertha asking for Krídlo to be sent to him in secret. He hadn't expected her to do anything, not with him and Duo being the reason she no longer had her husband, but she had shocked him.

He remembered stumbling upon Krídlo when a young girl had scrambled from the thicket, followed closely by her half clothed boyfriend. Both had disappeared with red blushes on their faces. After he visited with her, she hid herself away in some thick underbrush in a more arid area of the Loop's wilds without any direction. He knew his Aunt had not only sent her, but spoke to her about keeping out of sight.

He leaned forward, securing Duo between himself and the harness as comfortably as he could before he signaled Krídlo to jump. It wasn't long before they reached the mountain and much too soon he had to let Krídlo and Newt stay behind. With Krídlo's help, Heero stood Duo up in her grasp. He stood stunned, staring at his bonded as he hung limply in her hold. He couldn't even make out the rise and fall of his chest. He shook his head, letting the dizzying movement disrupt the dark litany he knew wasn't true. Heero pulled a thick blanket across Duo's back holding onto the ends over his shoulders while he twisted around so his back was to Duo.

Heero pressed his back to Duo's torso, pulled one end of the over his shoulder and the other under his arm, tying it tightly so it rested diagonally across his chest. Wrapping his arms around the thin body behind him, he leaned forward, pushing Duo as far up on his back the first tie allowed and pulled the other half under his rump. He quickly tied it tightly around his waist and stood up with his arms looped under Duo legs. Heero bounced on his feet a few times and found the blanket held Duo in place. He looked over his shoulder to make sure Duo's head and hands were still covered, before making sure the large satchel going across his other shoulder was secure.

Heero began walking. He'd made considerable progress without any elements to aid them and moving nonstop throughout the night. Krídlo's jumping distance was unparalleled to any other Gua's, but her mate and Khushrenada's Gua Husa. Newt was a close second. Without them, they would still be in the sparse stretch of desert three days from the mountains if he had been left to horses. He thanked them again, his gratitude clear in his voice. He was glad to see the Gua moving down to a warmer incline.

Heero began a brisk climb, glancing every so often at the world the mountain overlooked. Their world. The sheer height threatened to take his feet out from under him. The height of the mountain hadn't bothered him before, so he pushed the dizziness back and kept moving.

Right around now, Heero could imagine Relena asking for his whereabouts. Once Quatre saw that neither he nor Duo was home, he would have them all set out toward the mountains. Knowing Quatre and Relena, they would both use their abilities. Though, Relena was still new to moving earth willingly, so Quatre will be using his element the most. If he factored Trowa taking over so Quatre wouldn't tax himself, he figured they had a few hours to themselves.

An hour later, nose flaring and chest tight, Heero found himself panting as he leaned against the rocky face. He had hoped he would find the same crevice Quatre had brought them to the first time, but he saw nothing that gave it away. His vision grayed, but he wasn't aware of it until he felt a strong falling sensation. He jerked, his hand snapped out and grappled for a sturdy hold on the rigid surface of the mountain side.

Once he had a sturdy grip, he quickly pulled himself forward into a squat and used one of the water gourds to shield Duo's hooded head from the loose rock he had dislodged. Once the spray of rock and dust lessened, he stood on unsteady feet while he leaned heavily against the rocky surface. For a long while, he glared furiously at nothing as he berated himself. He was pushing himself too much. He had been close to proving Quatre right and his brash actions had nearly cost them both their lives.

Not to say that ending it all had never crossed his mind. It was just that falling off the side of the mountain and taking Duo with him, was not how he would do it. He had plenty of dreams, some nightmares, of ways he could if he ever woke and discovered that Duo had stopped breathing. Many nights, he stayed awake to watch Duo breathe. The involuntary action made it easier for him to use reason to block the empty feeling in his chest and its traitorous whispers that he had nothing left.

"Counterproductive," he chided himself and frowned. He was somewhat surprised at how accustomed he had grown to talking in Duo's presence and his bonded not responding back.

That was something he had never wanted to grow used to.

He squashed the ache that bubbled up in his chest like acid and rubbed Duo's leg while he squinted at the path. Something about the look of it didn't sit right with him. He checked out the path behind them and then the one in front of them again. The one in front, though worn, was still passable, wider and the fact that it was wielder made was more pronounced by its even planes and symmetrical angles. It told him he had brought them too far.

He remained pressed to the rocky surface and turned around slowly, never letting his gloved hands break contact with his handholds. He paced himself, his hand mapping the groves and hidden recesses the elements carved into the mountain. The constriction in his chest and dizzying throb in his head, faded now that he allowed his body the time to adjust to the higher altitude he hadn't permitted on his trek up the path.

Heero paused when his hand disappeared inside an arm deep space that he wouldn't have seen because of the way the rock overlapped. It reminded him of Quatre's city and its many hidden passageways. Ever mindful of his precious burden, Heero double checked the blanket securing Duo to his back. Once he was certain there were no tears and the ties were knotted tight, he turned to face the mountain side. He leaned forward, yanking on the lip of the small gap to ensure it made a good handhold and then held it tight as he searched the rocky surface in front of him with his other hand. It wasn't much longer before he found the entrance. The fissure in the rock overlapped just like the recess and the passages in Quatre's city. Its dark interior looked like a foreboding void. He stepped inside and stumbled to keep his balance when they were sucked the rest of the way in.

Heero's night vision kicked in and his eyes widened as he was nearly tossed backward into a large mound of rock. He turned just in time to spare Duo from the blow and a burst of pain colored his vision from his nose. He hadn't been able to stop his own forward momentum, but it was a small price he was more than willing to pay. He hunched down, holding tighter to the mound of large stones until the force of the wind lessened.

Heero straightened, wiping away the blood with the back of his hand and a grimace. He checked it tentatively and was relieved it was only bloody and not broken. He maneuvered around fallen rock cautious of any holes or sudden dips in the ground and walked out into the abandon village.

He hadn't realized how large the village actually was. His eyes followed the corpus of trees as they spread out and began to take sentry positions on various broken rises on the mountain walls. The other mountain acted more as a buffer, protecting it from the harsher elements. As he walked out into the open, he craned his neck to look at the face of rock overhead where the vivid memory of decaying bodies had been pinioned. As he expected, the bodies were gone. The smoky rock face was smooth with pock marks of where holes used to be and stained, not by the blood of the slain, but by the rain stained shapes of leaf fall.

Patches of grass dotted the paths that lead to various dwelling, happily degrading them in their disuse. The muted grays and smell of decay from his memory was replaced with fresh air and the color green growing things. Heero eyed the farm plot and took note that it had been plowed and the weeded field had crops growing out of it in varying stages. Heero eyed the rows with narrowed eyes and searched the surrounding mountain peaks for movement. A large bird took flight at the end of one and the tension eased out of him, softening the scowl on his face.

There was anything really suspect about the place anymore. Heero's vision blurred and he shook his head to clear it. They needed lodgings and a fire to warm themselves by. Wearily, he looked around. He wanted to avoid the place where his uncle had died. It was also the place where Jirrad once lived and the very same place Duo was taken over by the elements. Heero's shoulders slumped at his thoughts.

He had brought them back to a place associated with too many bad memories; he could only hope that he had been right to do so. He pushed himself forward when the fine tremor in his hands returned. His search went by in a blur. He tried to avoid the dwelling, but no matter which direction he went or how far he walked, he ended up in front of the same damnable dwelling.

Heero glared at the place before trudging inside. He surveyed it quickly then nodded absently to himself when he could find no one else there. He leaned forward, untying the durable blanket that held Duo securely to his body and placed one hand behind him to keep Duo in place against his back when he straighten. He took a breath after making sure Duo's feet were on the ground and spun around to face him, catching the unconscious wielder just as his legs buckled on him. He pulled the blanket tighter around Duo and glared at the dwelling interior.

It had been fixed.

The fire pit held fire stones and wood for kindling. There was a pile of wood in a far corner, a bed in a separate room by the shuttered window with fresh linen over the entry way and two chests of drawers and a small but private washroom. The person, who had updated the dwelling, had also included the kitchen space. It had countertops, cabinets, a larger pantry and a wood burning stove. There was a large, but modest table near the main entrance to the dwelling and directly across from the kitchen was a table for four.

Knowing Duo's body almost better than he knew his own, Heero stopped by the washroom first. Once they were done, he laid Duo down on the bed before he went to work with the flint stones to get the fire started. In less than half an hour, he had Duo fed and comfortably warm when he could hold back his exhaustion no longer and he fell asleep.

"...on himself. Too hard."

He frowned in his sleep.

"Ah, yes. I do see that," the speaker laughed her voice caring and full of mirth. "He's been a fierce protector of you this whole while and it has only gotten worse. I've been introduced to him by Quatre a few times, both times he had beard that made him look like some brute from the ice lands."

"Or a bear!" they chuckled, warming the room with their amusement. The one next to him sounded gravely when he spoke and coughed to clear his throat.

"If only you could have seen the look on his face when he came here! I'm glad he didn't see me as nothing more than what I was."

"He had good reasons. Thanks for... Well, you know."

"Aw, you're the cutest thing when you blush!" she cooed and then a chair scraped the floor when it was moved, "None needed. I understand and respect why neither of you would want to deal with healers right now."

She sounded wistful, the thoughts that resurfaced bringing a shudder into her voice and an audible swallow before she continued, "I know there are scars we can never heal." she sighed and cleared her throat, "Believe me when I say I understand. So Mista death glare can rest assured that I've only dressed his wounds."

"He didn't have anything too serious," she quickly added and Heero felt the tenseness in the body next him ease. "Malnourished, suffering from severe exhaustion, stress-bruised… I'll need to check his ribs after you two are done cuddling," her voice wavered as if she was shaking her head at something, and then she snickered while pots clanked in the kitchen.

"The tea mixture helping?"

"Yea. Despite it tasting like a bunch of crushed leaves in tar and me sounding like hell warmed over, I can talk. The light headed dizziness doesn't make me want to puke too much anymore."

"That'd be vertigo. Good. It will help replenish your strength, settle your stomach and ease some of the ache of disuse in your limbs. There's more in the kettle and if you can, get him to drink some, it will help him too. I made some light meals on the table if either of you can stomach them. I strongly recommend you try, especially your bonded."

He frowned, he wasn't following the conversation just hearing pieces like he wasn't completely there. The body next to him shifted when he moved his head to nod and Heero wondered if this was what being asleep, but not, felt like for Duo.

"I'm just happy Quat had me come here just in case. You're going to have your hands full with him." Heero heard the smile in her voice and he shifted with difficulty when the body next to him pressed closer.

"Yeah. Kitty-Quat, always making plans and contingencies. I'm glad to see that he still has family. More so that he has you and Trowa. He needs you all, even if he doesn't show it. All of this was so heavy on him. He got to the point where he had nearly given up on living and gave himself so little - valued himself even less. I don't ever want to see him brought that low again."

"I know," there was awe in her voice, "You… Talking with you feels so natural. It's like I've always known you and… You seem so perceptive -wise."

A raspy chuckle interrupted by breathy coughs shook the chest nearly on top of him with a twinge of discomfort. Even though Heero didn't immediately recognize their voices, he didn't feel threatened. Soon, he came to realize what the discomfort was – it was his body telling him he had hurt more than just his nose in his journey to Abbadon. The rapidly awaking ache was from the pressure against his chest.

"Nah, just talking from personal experience and what I remember." The legs intertwined with his squeezed him, "Quatre would be the wise one, really. I'm no older than him."

"I know, but still."

He nearly groaned when the steady drum of his heart beat fed into his growing headache as he forced himself to wakeup. Something should be wrong, but it wasn't. His body was heavy and uncooperative. He stiffened as fingers traced the crease in his brow.

"Wakey-" there were several coughs before the speaker spoke again. "Wakey, wakey. You didn't bring me all the way here just to take my place," the bed shifted and he felt hair brush his face before something pressed against his forehead. "Come on, you're sleeping way too much beautiful."

Heero's bloodshot eyes shot open as the raspy voice became clearer. The pounding of his heart felt strange in his chest, and the pain in his head was forgotten as he stared into blue-violet eyes an inch away from his own. Duo sat up before Heero could process what he had seen; before he could sort through the mint and herb poultice permeating the air around his nose and recognize Duo's scent.

Duo accepted a cup from a girl, no woman Heero saw in his peripherals with lightly curled, pale brown hair that stopped a little past her chin. She was forgotten when Duo's tired eyes focused back on him. Heero took in his every movement; the way his eyes drooped when he blinked, the dimpling of his cheeks when he shakily smiled down at him.

On impulse, Heero watched his own trembling hand reach up to Duo's face with a detached sort of interest and then he stopped it short of its goal. It shook near Duo's face, but never making contact with his cheek. He wanted to touch him, bring him close again, _feel_ him, but doubt had stopped him. What would happen if he tried to touch him and it faded into one of his many recurring nightmares? He feared he would not recover from one as real as this one.

Duo arched a brow at him, his mussed bangs sticking off from his head in tangled angles. Duo cupped the back of his hand and Heero's breath hitched in his throat. Duo pressed the side of his face into his bandaged palm and nuzzled. At the warm press of lips to his chilled skin of his palm, Heero remembered to breathe again.

"I'm real, 'Ro. We're not dreaming." Duo wiggled his fingers until they slipped between Heero's clenched ones and squeezed, kissing the backs of their interlaced fingers.

Heero stared, afraid to blink, as the blue-violet orbs he had longed to see glanced at the other person in the dwelling. From the direction Duo was playfully glaring in, Heero figured the girl was somewhere near the fire pit. He could hear her snickering, but he didn't bother to see why. He was captivated by Duo's animated face and the way his eyes changed in the low light of the dwelling.

"If only the others could return sooner and see you two!"

He watched Duo take one of the pillows from the bed and try to throw it at her. When it fell short, Duo picked up another one and tossed it sideways like one would skip stones across the water and a yelp like squawk made Heero blink.

"I'm going! I'm going! You're supposed to kiss him awake you know!" Heero watched the pale face flush with color and loved how it all settled into a blush that spread across Duo's cheeks. The girl's grumbling grew fainter the further away she went.

"Damn that Iria." Duo grumbled lowly with a shake of his head before those violet eyes returned to him. "Hey."

He blinked, his eyes watering as he accepted what was right in front of him and forced himself to let go of the doubt. "Duo."

Duo's eyes darkened, his brows arched as he dove down to kiss him. The kiss pushed him into pillow, his teeth clacked together and he flinched when their noses bumped in Duo's enthusiasm. Duo pulled back long enough to wiggle further down into the bed before he claimed his lips again.

Heero discovered Duo's hair was loose when it fell around them, concealing their faces. He ran his hand through it once, before letting his hand rest on the back of Duo's head, surrounded by Duo. Heero gasped, his lips trembling against Duo's when he felt the familiar warmth from their connection fill his chest as if it had never left him.

"Gah, 'Ro! When you say my name like that..!" Duo panted, while he rested his forehead against his and closed his eyes as his body shook. "When I'm not so messed up and you've recovered, I'm gonna I jump your bones!"

Heero snorted out a helpless laugh and didn't admit the hot trails of happiness running into his ears were anything other than that. He loved the burn Duo made him feel with his suddenly husky voice. He shivered. Regrettably, his shivering wasn't due to arousal. The heat he felt between them was making him nauseous and his body ached in ways he had stubbornly ignored for far too long. He needed rest.

His ears twitched and he knew the others were nearby, but respectfully giving them privacy. Now that Duo was back, he would entrust their friends with the task of protecting them. He kissed Duo chastely once before turning them both to lie on their sides. He put some distance between them, but kept his arms around him.

"Missed you." he said thickly, eyes already closing on him.

Duo smiled, keeping the distance between them without asking anything and sliding his hands under Heero's tunic for a little more contact. "Love you, 'Ro."

Heero's eyes widened at that. The shock of hearing the unexpected words banked exhaustion's pull. Duo glanced away from him; blush still high on his cheeks.

"Just so you know." Duo muttered, eyes slanting to stare at him through the corners before he focused them fully back on him. Heero felt his mouth twitch as Duo's fingers brushed along his jaw line until his thumb settled on his lower lip. "If I get a smile like that every time, I'll make sure I tell you as much as I can."

He hadn't even noticed he was smiling. He didn't know what to say to Duo after that so he didn't say anything and gave Duo a peck to his lips. The throb from his head had him in a half dozed soon after. The need to make sure Duo was there was still too much of a habit for him to really relax and sleep like he should. On reflex, Heero's arms clenched around Duo whenever sleep would try to pull him under and he would jerk to semi-consciousness again. There was movement in the outer rooms and he struggled to sit up.

"Rest well." he heard Quatre whisper and a touch to the faint stubble on his cheek had him focusing sleep heavy, azure eyes to see a smiling, drowsy Duo.

"I'm here," the tension left him and he slept.


End file.
